How do you solve a problem like this? (Leon and Maria)

Leon sighed a little bit as he opened his front door, having unlocking the three locks and cut his finger to pass the blood ward. Sometimes he thought he was too paranoid... right up until he remembered that he was the leader of a country that was on the edge of war.

But leading his country was... well it was rather easy. When you were the German high minister for magic all you really had to do was be an imposing figure and shout what you wanted. People expected that from you and only responded if they thought you would snap at any second and kill them.

No the reason why he was so weary at the moment was because of his love life.

His non-existent, love life!

He had feelings for a woman but she seemed to be perfectly content to ignore that he even existed. Sighing a little bit, he locked the door again behind him,

"I'm home!" he called out to let his live-in housekeeper know, "Maria I'm home... where are you?"

Moving into the living room, Leon poured himself some whiskey from his collection and sipped at it as he tried to relax himself. Finding it near impossible, he decided her needed to talk to someone about it,

"Maria... can I talk to you for a minute?"

Maria had been living with Leon for a good few months now and as she had hoped she had been doing good work for him, she had never heard a bad word about her work and that meant that he was finding it satisfactory. It would be nice however to hear a few compliments now and again because she did try hard to make sure that her work was the very best.

It was odd but when they did talk they ended up talking about things that weren't related to work at all, and therefore they were vastly more important. Maria could survive not being able to have compliments about her work if Leon continued to confide in her as a friend - which she believed Leon would class her as.

When she heard him coming home, a small smile formed on her lips, she had to stifle it from growing however because she wanted so very badly to bound downstairs and see Leon right away. Maria didn't though. Having feelings for you boss was never advisable and he already had feelings for someone else, so, she was going to have to reign herself in from being too...doe eyed.

"Of course Leon sir, one moment." she called, placing her cleaning items away Maria scurried into the living room and stood, hands clasped in front of her, and a small smile on her lips "I'm glad that you are home safely Leon, I was beginning to get worried about you!" Maria admitted with a little laugh.

Moving so that she was standing nearer to Leon, when she heard that he wanted to tell her something Maria's heart fluttered a little bit seeing him sat there sipping his whiskey. She had lived for many years and had never seen a man so attractive while reclining after a hard days work, it made her want to comfort him, cook for him and kiss him on his return home.

"What is it sir?" she asked softly, a small frown on her features "You are welcome to talk to me about anything."

Leon looked around the living room as Maria came into it and couldn't help but smile. As always she had done an amazing job at tidying the place up. She never ceased in her duties towards him and the house and he loved her dedication. Smirking a little bit as she entered the room, he sat down at one end of the sofa and gestured for her to sit on the other cushion beside him,

"You have done a wonderful job of cleaning the house as usual Maria." he told her with a small smirk, "But of course I am home safe! After all, I only got hit with one firebomb on my way out of the Ministry building. To be honest I was rather insulted it wasn't three like last week."

He could see that she was ready to help him, as she always was. She was with him when he needed her and that was why he was talking to her instead of anyone else. She was one of his very few true friends. He smiled a little bit softer at her.

She was perhaps his greatest friend.

He sighed a little bit,

"I... I am having issues with my love life." he admitted with a small sigh, "I have a woman in my life... she's so close to me but..."

He glanced at her and looked her in the eye,

"But somehow so far away... what do I do?"

Maria didn't like the fact that Leon was constantly in danger however she knew that he wouldn't want her doting over him. She would just come across as an old mother hen and that probably wasn't what he wanted right now. He had enough people fussing over him, like his co-workers and the people in charge of his security, if he said that he could handle it and it wasn't that bad then she would take him at his word.

"You shouldn't joke like that." she teased "I am sure that your head of security would be very happy to know that it had only been one attempt to take your life today instead of more." Maria commented with a little smirk on her lips.

Sitting down as she was asked to, Maria placed her clasped hands in her lap and leant forwards slightly towards Leon so that she could better attentively listen to what his problem was. Even though she already could take a good guess at what he would be talking to her about. As a woman she could give good advice on the feelings of other women, and that was probably what Leon wanted to ask about.

"Ah I see." Maria hummed, when it turned out to be as she thought. Resisting the urge to bite her lip, and show her fangs in her distress, Maria had to internalise the battle that she was fighting against herself right now, she wanted to tell Leon the truth because he trusted her to, but she also wanted Leon to herself...not to be given to someone who wouldn't even appreciate him!

"Have you asked her to accompany you on a date anywhere? It doesn't have to be in a romantic fashion...somewhere simple perhaps to begin with? I am certain that the lady in question probably is unaware of your feelings, and when you make them known to her, she will be more than happy to reveal the ones she has for you." Maria advised, with a small smile. She was slowly being killed inside giving this advice, which would inevitably push Leon further and further away from her. At least he might be happy though.

Leon knew that Maria didn't like it when he was in danger but he had been in danger all his life to be honest so he mostly just got on with it and turned it into a joke. Smirking a little bit at the way she was even no beginning to frown, he loved it when she went all mother-hen on him. But it seemed that she wasn';t going to go mother-hen on him today.

He almost pouted.

"Ah well my head of security is a stick in the mud." he said with a dramatic sigh, "I still don't know why he wouldn't let me do that muggle sport... parachuting wasn't it called? It sounded like a lot of fun."

She was rather well mannered he had noticed. Even in the way she sat it was clear that Maria had a high standard of education in all things relating to manners. He sighed a little bit and shook his head a little bit,

"I don't know... we might be too close as friends for me to do that... I mean... what if she says no? It would ruin the friendship..." he muttered quietly, "But that's the thing... she is showing these signs... but..."

But not to him.

Momo was currently off trying to find a way to French kiss a ghost and it was tearing him up inside. He swallowed thickly,

"My feelings are... are ignored..."

Maria tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes and she did manage that, however she pinched the bridge of her nose instead to illustrate her exasperation with Leon and his adrenaline junkie sport that he had wanted to try. It was dangerous but it was in a controlled manner at least, she would have said he should have been allowed to try it - it must be irritating to have ones life constricted so much by ones duties.

"Well the way that you described it made it seem like a lot of fun but you also probably made it seem a whole lot safer to appease myself when you were telling me about it." she stated with a small smile on her lips "You shall have to make do with tamer sports for the time being."

It seemed as if the relationship between Leon and this woman, Momo was more in danger of not happening than it was happening. It made her heart flare in hope that he might give up on her and come to realise that she herself was so much better for him - yet she felt the need to support him with the choice of woman he had made. Even if it was the wrong one.

"So you would rather have her as a friend than lose her completely? It seems to be...sensible." she stated with a sad smile "I would always say however that if you truly did love this woman then you should risk everything to see if that love is returned...you would be unable to live with yourself if you never knew what could have been."

She cursed herself for uttering these words, if he told Momo his feelings then she would be left in the dust especially if she returned them! It was her heart torn between two paths, being honest as a friend and getting the love she wanted from Leon by deceiving him away from the woman he did love. He trusted her, and the first path was the one she followed.

"What do you do to show you feel for her, sir?" she asked quietly "Maybe they are just being interpreted as something else, as friendship perhaps?"

Leon frowned slightly. The way he had described it? He had described it perfectly accurately to the people he had described it to! You threw yourself from one of those muggle metal flying contraptions with a method of stopping yourself from going splat on the ground. Of course when they figured out what an aeroplane was and what a parachute was they were strangely against it,

"Awww come on!" he whined playfully, "I just want to throw myself out of one massive hunk of moving metal... is that too much to ask for?"

Apparently so since a lot of people seemed adamant that he not do it.

Momo was flawed in so many ways but he could forgive all of those flaws, all of the Japanese traditions which were not relevant to the country and all the stubbornness, if she would just give him a sign that she had feelings for him too. Instead she seemed much more smitten with his pet fucking ghost!

He nodded,

"You are right Maria... if I truly loved her then I would say it no matter what may happen." he agreed with her as he clenched his fists closed tightly, "I... I..."

Sighing a little bit, he ran his fingers through his hair and breathed out a heavy sigh as he thought about what he did to show her that he liked her. He hummed slightly,

"I invite her to lunch with me but she rebuffs me." (of course he often took Maria out for dinner since they lived together) "I talk to her at every chance." (Again like he did with Maria when at home) "And I've..." he paused before sighing, "And now she refuses to do any of these things with me. She is always busy... with the ghost."

Maria would have continued to have played along with Leon's little bit acting about being upset at not being able to parachute jump out of an aeroplane, if it was really such a big matter for him he would have already gone and done it no matter what the head of security said. He couldn't have wanted it that badly at the end of the day.

What she was really interested in however was the problem that was at hand with Momo, she knew that Leon loved her but she couldn't bare to discuss the subject too much longer. It was too painful for herself.

"Then might I suggest that you tell her your feelings, you ask for a chance to illustrate how deep and how broad they are with one romantic encounter, a date of sorts, and then what will be will be." Maria smiled softly, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze with her cool one "You will be able to rest knowing you tried."

Despite the fact that Momo didn't seem to return his feelings and was actually being a rather strange woman by spending all of her time with a ghost instead of with Leon himself, Maria still thought that Leon should try. Then he could move on.

"Maybe something is wrong in...in her private life which is making her act strangely? In any event Leon I suggest you talk to the lady in question frankly, you will know where you stand and then you might move on or enjoy your lives together from then onwards." Maria smiled slightly, before dusting her skirt off and standing up "That is my advice on the matter, is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

Leon sighed a little bit as he clutched at his hair tightly with his fingers. What the fuck was he supposed to do with Momo? He could feel his affection for her turning to bitter sweet hate with every passing day that she spent with his pet ghost. It... it was cutting him deeply but for the life of him he couldn't decide if it was cutting him deeply because he was jealous or because he was actually growing to hate her for her continued, albeit unintentional, rejection.

But he would do as Maria advised.

Maria was perhaps one of the wisest people he had ever met and her advise here would be followed just like the advise she gave him regarding everything else was as well. He nodded,

"I will tell her." he told her quietly, "I will tell her how I feel and her answer will be the answer to the question... of what I should do."

He took a deep breath as he resolved to do as he had said. Turning to Maria, he paused for a moment before nudging her slightly with a slight smile,

"What about you huh?" He asked her quietly, "Don't think I haven't seen you... you're mooning over a guy, I can tell that much. Hows your love life going? Maybe I can help you with yours?"