And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

Vena watched as Scor took forever to pick out which monopoly peice he wanted to be. He always took forever to chose and more often than not chose the same one. The shruken Hogwarts a History. Vena wondered how many times Scor had actually read that book. In her seven years at Hogwarts she'd probably only read about two thirds of it, if that at least. She narrowed her eyes at Scor as he rolled two sixes.

Waiting for him to take his turn Vena gave out the money, fake wizarding money instead of the fake Muggle money that the board game had had until they had bewitched it so it was wizarding. She passed Scor his coins and piled hers up into minutes towers. Only for them to get too tall and fall over a few moments later. She glanced at Scor as he rolled and moved his peice however many paces.

Feeling a bit guilty as Vena squinted at him, Scor rolled and took his turn, moving eight paces along the board and smiling as he landed on The Shrieking Shack. It wasn't worth very much money, but it was one of his favorite things to buy in the game. He moved to count out the money for it, but instead promptly scattered the play wizard money that Vena had given him. He quickly scooped it into a large pile and paid in what he needed to in order to buy the shack. He pushed the dice over to Vena and got to work arranging his money the way that he wanted, trying to make sure that all of the stacks where even and neat. It was one of those lingering things from his younger days that others had teased him for, but he figured that you could never really be too neat.

The game continued, and their paces went round and round the board. Vena found the just visiting square stupid as no-one would would actually want to just visit Askaban. Though it was only a board game so it didnt' really matter. They continued for a few hours, going round and round the board. In the end Vena won, mostly because she had gotten both Hogwarts and the Ministry of magic, put castles on them. (the equivilents of hotels) and Scor had the unlucky habit of landing on one of them every few times he went aorund the board.

Vena half helped pack up, which mostly included shoving the peices where they fitted and left Scor to do the rest. Or redo her bit if he felt compelled for it to be neat. She went off to the bathroom to brush her teeth. A good thing about a small house was that you didnt need to trek about it to ge from place o place. Once she'd finished in the bathroom Vena went to their small bedroom changing into her night clothes and flicking her wand to light the lamp of her bedside table.

Scor pouted over losing as he tucked the board game back into the nook in the wall and traced his finger backwards over the line, closing it up so that it looked like a normal wall again. After he'd gotten everything back in place, he fixed himself a glass of warm milk and sipped it slowly before heading off the bathroom. He squinted at himself in the mirror for a while (trying to see if he looked any different now that he was engaged?) and then brushed his teeth quickly. He was about to get into bed when he realized that he was still in his robes and quickly changed into his pajamas, which were blue and green striped. He pulled a comb through his hair a few times, as it tended to look rough in the morning if he didn't, before remembering that he would have to shower before work anyway. Getting into bed, he realized that he had gotten a lot sleepier over the course of the game and was yawning every few seconds. "I am going to be dead on my feet at work tomorrow," he muttered, imagining dealing with the loud hour that was children's story-time at the library without much sleep.

Vena smiled amused at him as she lay down on her pillow and turned the light off. "I'll be fine, unless I need to go chasing dark wizards. Not that when half asleep will be interesting." She said her finger rubbing over the ring on her other hand. It felt kind of weird, to have a ring on her hand. But it was a good kind of weird. "Goodnight Scor," She said leaning over and kissing him before snugging back down into the bed and closing her eyes sleepily. Soon she drifted off into sleep, and sooner then she would have liked her alarm was waking her up. With a mix of a grumble and a yawn she grabbed her clothes and headed into the bathroom to have a shower. She tied her hair into a high pony tail and then went off to the kitchen, not bothering to boil the water she hit the kettle with her wand. And then poured the steaming liquid over her coffee before adding the milk.

She did the same with the toaster, hitting it with her wand to cook it. She didn't have the patience in the morning to do things the muggle way. She sat down on the table munching on her toast and drinking her coffee and reading the paper that had been delieivered while she was setting up breakfast. "Morning," She said looking up as Scor entered the room still looking half asleep.

Scor drifted off with ease and dreamed of a wedding. Not his own wedding, as that would have been nice, but his sister's wedding. He dreamed that he hadn't been able to sit in a seat and watch with everyone else, because the whole family had been there, and there was no room for him. When he woke up, Vena was already gone and he couldn't hear the water running, which meant she'd already showered. He took his time washing his body and his hair and then got out, drying off with his wand instead of a towel and putting on his slacks and button up shirt. He slipped a set of plain black robes on over them and wondered how long they would last today. Even though it was a magical library, most of the employees just wore Muggle clothes, since they were more convenient. In fact, he was seeing more and more wizards and witches in Muggle clothes lately; it seemed like the fashions were changing.

Walking back through the bedroom, he eyed the bed longingly, wishing he could go back to sleep, but instead opted for the kitchen to get himself some orange juice and a bagel. It was strange that he and Vena got along so well, yet were completely different in a lot of ways. He wasn't one for coffee, even when he was sleepy, and he reckoned that he'd just plain gotten tired of toast during his seven years at school. "Morning," he muttered back, spreading some cream cheese onto his bagel and sitting down with a wide yawn. "How was your sleep? I had the oddest dream." He stretched his arms out to wake himself up some more without remembering that he was holding his orange juice, and had to very quickly correct his pose so as not to dump it out all over his head.

"It was good," Vena said finished off her toast and tapping her plate with her wand to clean it before she staacked it back in it's place. She couldn't stand cleaning things in a muggle fashion, it bugged her endlessly. She drained the rest of her coffee, the last few dregs off it tasting a little off. She made a face cleaning it and opening the cardboard door. "What was it about?" She asked him in reference to his dream. She seemed to bareley ever dream anymore and when she did she could never remember exactly what she had dreamt about.

She walked out into the hallway picking her shoes up and bringing them back into the kitchen so she could continue to talk to Scor as she finished getting dressed. Slipping on her shoes' she made sure she had her wand. Not that she thought she would actually ever forget it but you never know. As she slid her house key into her pocket, (she had to take them just in case there were Muggles passing when she went to lock up or enter the house) she caught site of the ring on her finger and smiled as she light hit it and danced off.

He waited and took small sips of his tangy orange juice as Vena went to get her shoes, then tried to pull the details out of the dense fog of the dream. "Eris was getting married...I don't even know if it was to James or not...and there wasn't a seat for me. I had to stand way in the back and hide, and I couldn't really hear anything, or even see my sister. And then I saw that all the rows were just FULL of Malfoys. Which is weird, because there aren't that many of us..." He trailed off and decided there was probably some sort of metaphorical meaning that he didn't want to bother with at this time of day. He chomped into his bagel and quickly devoured once side of it, then considered the second side. Shaking his head, he pushed the plate away and tapped it with his wand. In the morning, there was no telling where he had Vanished it too, but with any luck it was in the sink and he could deal with it when he came home.

Tapping the table, he checked the time and groaned. He'd pretty much charmed all of the tables in the house to do what he'd done to his wall in childhood; he always liked to keep track of the time, and it was much easier to have it available at a tap than to have to cast a Tempus charm every time. Yet, he realized he only had five minutes to get to the library and have the doors open and ready to go. Standing, he kissed Vena and hurried to the door to slip his feet into his shoes. "I've really gotta go," he muttered. "I don't even think I'm going to go outdoors, just Apparate from here." He frowned apoogetically.

Vena kissed him back with a smile on the edge of her face. "Have fun," She told him thinking that she would have to head off soon, as she didnt really want to be late either. As Scor apperated out she pondered slightly on his dream, though that didn' last long as she always thought that divination was a dud class. With a small yawn she made sure that she had everything and once satisfied that she did she apperated out. As she couldn't be bothered taking the door.

She arrived outside the main enterence of the ministry. Where most of the employee's entered. She twirled her wand in her hand a few times as she entered the ministry, she'd never stopped her habit of twirling it. The Ministry was bustling with people at that time of the morning, workers coming in. Random visitors there for odd reasons. Vena liked the busieness of the Ministry in the morning as it was easy to just blend in. She headed straight for the lifts wondering what was on the agenda that day. She hoped it wasn't a lot, as she was still fairly tired from staying up playing monopoly. Though her tiredness usaully had worn off by lunch time.

"Morning Vena," Vena heard someone call as she got to the level with the Auror department. Vena turned her head to the side and saw Jessie strolling towards her, looking half asleep. "Morning Jessie." Vena returned with a smile, Vena had become more comfortable around people once she'd left Hogwarts and started at the ministry and she had a few freinds who were also aurors. "You look tired," Vena noted. "Out late." Jessie replied as they entered their office as the two shared an office. "Ooh!" Jessie's eyes lit up as she caught site of the ring. "Wow, now that's a ring. Congradulations." Vena smiled at her though rolled her eyes as Jessie inspected the ring closer. "Pretty." She said with a nod. Though pretty really was an understatement.

Scorpius arrived outside of the doors of the library, making sure that he popped up inside the charms that masked apparition. The door was only openable with keys, as they'd found it safer than using a magical lock. As Scor fumbled with his keys, he wondered what exactly Reginald was trying to protect. The library didn't have any valuables, or any money besides what they took in for late fees. Perhaps there was something going on in the library that Scorpius hadn't been around long enough to know about. The lock finally clicked and he pushed the door open with his shoulder. He hadn't brought his shoulder bag today since he hadn't brought home any books from the library the day before, and good thing or he would have had to carry them on his walk home with Vena.

Flipping on the lights in the main room and the children's room, Scor bustled around trying to get everything ready for opening. Reginald was one of the few old men he knew that actually didn't wake up early, and he wouldn't be in until around lunch time, bringing his wife's homemade food with him.

The rest of the morning proceded of Jessie bugging Vena for endless details about the proposal and what the wedding was going to be like. And when it was and countless things that Vena hadn't even thought about let alone decided. "Jessie," She said in a mindly threatening voice putting her quill down on her desk and looking at the other girl. Jessie looked up and pushed her brown-ish blonde hair out of her face. "Hrm?" she asked in a sweet voice that suggested she hadn't done anything wrong. "Shut up." Jessie just smiled and though she ceased to babble quite as much as she had been moments before, she was still plotting questions and asking them.

Vena wondered what house Jessie would have been in if the girl had gone to Hogwarts, Jessie had until recently lived in America and gone to the wizarding school there. The education was just about the same though. In Vena's opinion she fitted probably every house except for Slytherin. She just did not seem the Slytherin type. "Jessie I have no idea." She said in answer to a question she hadn't heard. "Now do I care to know right now. let me work.Kay?" Jessie pouted at her.

Unfortunately, the "recently returned" cart had been absolutely full of books put there the day before. Scor figured it must have been towards the end of the day, since he had put away at least ten the day before around lunch time. He muttered as he returned all of them to there places by hand instead of by magic, except for the one which defied being sorted into fiction or nonfiction. He supposed he would ask Reggie about that one when he came in.

The minute that Reginald had crossed Scorpius's mind, the bell over the library door rang and, surprisingly, it was the old man himself, at least three hours early. "Hello, sir," he called up towards the front, hustling towards him with the book. "What brings you in so early?"

"Needed to get out of the house for a bit. Nessa was driving me mad. I don't know how I've put up with that woman for sixty years. You know how it is, don't you boy?"

"No, sir. Actually, I don't. I've just gotten engaged and if I could spend all day at home with her I think I'd just about die of joy." Scorpius smiled but thought sadly of the fact that he had no symbol of the fact that he was now taken, while Vena had her big, bright ring that anyone could clearly see the meaning of.

"Engaged? Well, my boy, that calls for a celebration!" Loping to the back of the room, Reginald opened up a nook in the wall and pulled from it a jug of fireqhiskey larger than Scorpius had ever seen. "For a toast to you and your lady. I might just give you a raise, son."

Scorpius blinked hard as the man poured him a shot of the firewhiskey and sat it before him. He'd been pushing for a raise for a while now, but he'd thought that Reginald couldn't afford it, not with the other assistant librarian, Lena, that he was keeping on. "You don't have to do that, sir. I know it's hard for you, paying both of our salaries..."

"Nonsense, boy. Lena is a pampered little girl who only works here to fill her time. She's got plenty enough of her daddy's money to keep her going. How'd you like to be chief librarian around here?" Reggie threw back his shot of Firewhiskey and smacked his lips, oblivious to the fact that it was still extremely early in the morning to be drinking. He waved at Scor to do the same, which he did, wincing.

"Thank you, sir, that's...that's amazing," he managed to choke, spluttering at the burning in his throat. Alcohol and Scorpius apparently didn't get along whatsoever.

As she worked Vena thought about the up-coming wedding and how things where going to go. She decided in her mind that she wanted Jessie to be the bridesmaid, though she didn't say anything to Jessie on that right then as it would start the girl in another babbling burst which Vena didn't need. As she was trying to concerntrate.

She also thought that she should get Scor a ring to symbolise that they were engaged because he had nothing to show for that and she had the glimmering ring on her left hand. In her lunch break she made her way to the jewlers. After talking to Raj for a little while about how she found the ring lovely and thanking him for it she proceded to look around the shop to find a nice one for Scor.

She knew that it wasn't going to be as elaborate as the one he had given her because shhe didn't have an awful amount of money and a ring with a big pretty stone might look a little odd on Scor. She found one she deemed suitible and slid it into her pocket, thanking Raj again for his help and making her way back to work. Greeting an enthusiastic Jessie who had probably had something sugar-y for lunch.

She was kind of tired by the time she got out that day, though was thankful she hadn't needed to go dueling someone or other. While that could be quite fun she was a little worn out. She apperated onto the front step of her house, wondering why she just didn't apperae inside. I would save the problem of Muggles accidently seeing her.Taking out her wand she tapped the lock and then shut the door behind her. Slipping off her shoes and leaving them sitting next to the door.

After shooting back several shots of the firewhiskey that Reginald just kept passing to him, and after drunkenly reading The Wizard and the Hopping Pot to a group of about 30 little witches and wizards, Scor was happy to be fumbling with the keys to lock the door. Stumbling as he dropped them, he knocked into Reginald, who, smiling knowingly, tapped him on the head with his wand a couple times, sobering him up. His head had a horrible thump in it, but he didn't have enough money to stop and get a Hangover potion on the way home.

When Scorpius arrived home, Vena wasn't yet home, as usual. He locked the door behind him and went in to take a shower, even though he'd had one that morning, just to see if it would make him feel better. He heard the door click closed just as he was getting out and quickly pulled on his boxers and a shirt figuring they wouldn't be going anywhere for the night.

Walking into the front part of the flat, he spotted Vena slipping her shoes off and came up behind her, hugging her around the waist and kissing her on her neck. "Welcome home, dear. How was your day?"

"Thanks," Vena said as Scor came up behind her and hugged her around the waist and then kissed her on the neck. "It was fine thank-you." She said kissing Scor on the cheak. They were around the same height though Scor was slightly taller then she was. But not my much. She wormed her way out of his grasp and went off to the bedroom to pull her robes off and put on some Muggle pants and top. She slid the ring into her pant pocket and let her hair down sliding the hair tie onto her wrist. So she had it if it were needed.

"How was your day?" She asked Scor as she sat down in one of the chairs in the kitchen, she tapped her wand onto the table saying the incantation for time. She nodded at the time as it flashed up. "Whose turn to make dinner is it?" She asked Scor. The two of them took it in turns to make dinner, Vena usaully speeding everything up with magic. "Yours," She said with a nod. "As mine was last night and you took me out so we by-passed it."

"My day," Scor began, opening the fridge and beginning to poke around for ingredients so he could decide what to make, "was very interesting. When I told Reggie that you and I were getting married, he fired Lena and made me head librarian!" He left out of the part about getting completely smashed with the man, as it seemed both unnecessary and trouble-making. Opening the freezer, Scorpius sighed as he looked at his options. "Would you like chicken, chicken, or....this is freezer-burned, but I think it's also chicken?" He pulled a pack of the chicken out and placed it on the counter, thawing it instantly with a tap of his wand. He immediately began digging around for a pan and then began pulling down cans of green beans, carrots, and potatoes.

Vena nodded and then did a double take as what he had said fully registered in her mind. "He did what now?" She said though she knew exactly what he had done. it just seemed a little baffeling. "Congradulations dear," She said giving him a hug and a smile. This was good news because head librarian would come with a raise and while they didn't need a lot of money, more money would help.

"We need to get groceries," She said in reply to the chicken, chicken chicken question. "And you need to stop buying chicken." She added as an afterthought, because while she didn't mind chicken it wasn't her favourite thing to eat. "Also," She added kissing him again and putting her hand into her pocket, she shut the ring in her clasped hand. "Close your eyes and put out your hand." Her eyes glimmered slightly as she smiled at him.

Hugging the girl who would one day be his wife, Scor let out a deep laugh that was filled with the relief of the things that had happened in the last few days. It seemed like his life got easier as each day went by now, and he hadn't been quite so happy in a very long time. "Yes, we do need groceries, but we'll have to wait til one of us gets our paycheck as I've spent all my money on your ring and your extremely expensive yet mediocre dinner last night. And I happen to like chicken."

Confused at the second thing that Vena said to him, Scor let his his eyes flutter closed and warily put his hand out, not sure of what was going to be placed there. He wracked his brain for anything he had lost or that he might have asked for, but there was absolutely nothing to give him a hint.

Vena smiled as Scor shut his eyes warily, the look on his face was puzzlement and confusion. He had no idea what she was going to put in his hand, which she supposed was better then him having a clue as that would ruin half of the fun. He put out his hand and Vena put her hand above his. Facing her palm down into his. She opened her fist and let the small silver ring fall into his palm.



"You can open your eyes," She said kissing him again. A smile playing on the corner of her lips. She felt somewhat nervous as to what Scor would think and wondered how he had felt. As asking her to marry him would have been a heck of a lot harder then just giving him something to symbolise it.

Feeling something small and circular drop into his palm, Scor had a moment of panic in which he wondered if Vena were giving back her ring. Was she rejecting his proposal after already accepting it? Did she want him to take it back? But instead, when Scorpius opened his eyes, he was greeted with a plain silver band and a kiss from Vena, which didn't work out too well as his mouth had fallen open in shock. Once she had pulled away from him, he turned the band over in his hand a few times, wishing he knew what to say.

"Oh, Ven," he muttered, slipping the ring onto the proper finger and smiling as it adjusted to fit him. It was a magical ring, then, and a very nice one at that. It wasn't ostentatious and there was no girly little stone in it. It was simply a band that would tell the world that one day soon, he was going to be married to the most beautiful, amazing girl in the world. "Vena, I love it. How did you....? I love it." He knew he was repeating himself, but he couldn't figure out any other way to get his astonishment across.

"We might need to live on chicken for a little longer," Vena told him in all seriousness though she smiled as she said it. "And I hate chicken damn." She smiled as he repeated himself, she liked it when he got all confused and repeated himself. It was kinda sweet. She pulled herself up so that she was sitting on the bench, though away from the half cooked meal so she didn't sit in anything edable.

The feeling she had reminded her of when she'd first kissed Scor, the euphoric state. The feeling made her feel like grinning like an idiot. "Your freind Raj is very useful when it comes to rings." She added. "That shop has great rings." She smiled, though out of the rings that she had seen at the shop, the ojne she was wearing on her hand was by far the best.

Scor, not really sure what to do with himself, stuck the chicken and vegetables in the oven and tapped it with his wand. It was nice to have a way to speed things up, yet still have them come out tasty like they did the Muggle way. He tapped the counter so that he would know when to take the chicken out and then turned to Vena where she sat upon the bench.

"Raj is useful in a lot of ways," he mused, remembering the things that he had talked about at the store. He had apparently changed a lot since school, and for the better, at that. "He really does have gorgeous rings. He says his father does most of the cutting, but he does all the charming and polishing, and he sets them in the band. So really, he does most of the job, I guess." Scor knew he was rambling, but it was a good way of keeping himself from looking down over and over again at the ring on his hand. Somehow this made everything seem more real. Which reminded him. "We really need to start planning this wedding if we're doing it in June."

Vena nodded watching as Scor bustled around the kitchen cooking the dinner. Even though June was a fair way away, with planning the wedding they would have to get these things decided earlier."What do we need to figure out for it?"She asked him. "When, where, who." She frowned trying to find out what was needed.

Scor took the chicken out of the oven and dished it onto the plates where the serves of vegtables were already sitting. "Want a drink?" She asked Scor going over to their fridge and pulling out a bottle of butterbeer. Without really waiting for an answer she got out two cups and poured the drink into the cups. Bewitching drinks to pour had never been a strong point for her, the drink gota little enthusiastic and poured a little too much,

Scor nodded noncomittally about the drink, knowing that Vena would fix one for him anyway. Who would refuse a drink to go with their dinner? He finished dishing the chicken onto the dish in the middle of the table, and immediately began to serve some of it, as well as the vegetables, onto his own plate. He smiled as Vena sat his drink in front of him and he took a big gulp of it. Butterbeer was one of the tastes he had never really grown out of, he supposed.

"Well, we have a sort of general when, but I don't know about the day. We'd probably have to check with our friends. Speaking of them, that's the who of all of this. We need to make a list. We could do that tonight, as long as it doesn't take as long as Monopoly did. And where? Now that is a real question mark. I always assumed I'd get married at the Manor." Scorpius quickly stopped talking and frowned. He tried hard not to mention things like that, as it made him upset with himself, but most of all with his ex-family.

Vena took a drink of her drink and then proceded to start her meal as she thought it over. She picked up the carrot with her fingers, as she found sticking a fork into it annoying and time comsuming. Though she'd eat it with a fork if she was eating out. But that wasn't very often. "I'm sure thinking of people won't take longer then monopoly did," She mused as she finished off her carrot. "And really neither of us have that many freinds to list down anyway."

She frowned thinking of where, as that really was a problem. It had to be a place that would fit whoever they were inviting, and nice. It had to be a nice place. Not some old crappy weird place. She decided to ignore Scor mentioning the mannor because she rathered to stay away from those kinds of conversations. "That is a good question." She said thinking it over in her mind. "We'll have to think on that one."