A/N: This story was written as an entry for The Houses Competition, Year 3, Round 9.

House: Gryffindor

Year: Year 2 (Head Girl standing in)

Category: Standard

Prompt: 6. [Action] Buying a house

Word count: 1495 words (written on Google docs)

Betas: Thank you to CK (Theoretical-Optimist) for beta'ing! Xx

Additional A/N: It seems I'm going rather Minnie-centric this round (at least stand-in wise). Each scene skips back and forth from 1982 to 1956, the two periods in which Minerva was engaged. For those not as familiar with Minerva's early heartbreak, she agreed to Dougal's proposal only to change her mind overnight, not wanting to have to hide her magic from him as her mother had to their father. Personally, I could imagine Dougal not being so shocked, but it's what she did in canon so I'm sticking with it—the fic itself only touches on these emotions, and is more so focused on the given prompt to, well, meet the prompt :p (a large part of buying a house is the inspection process). If you also know Elphinstone's fate, well, the 'forever home' isn't as nice as it sounds lol.

I hope you like this take on it anyway, and thank you for reading! Xx

Second Chances

"Sorry I'm late… You haven't been waiting long, have you?"

Minerva saw Elphinstone place his pocket watch in his robe as she strode up to him. She had intended on being on time, but it seemed that a few first years had misplaced their belongings and she'd needed to help them locate them before the train left the station.

Elphinstone kissed her cheek. "Not at all. We've plenty of time to look around."

"Look?"

Her fiance smiled. "Right this way, my dear," he said, spreading his arm towards a small cottage.

Minerva had often admired the cottage whenever she walked through Hogsmeade. It was on the way to The Three Broomsticks and she would always stop at the small gate to smell the white roses lining it.

"Do you know the owners?"

"No, but I may soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, Minnie, I always thought you were the brightest witch I knew. My dear, the cottage is for sale," he said, linking his arm through hers and leading them through the gate.

A smile grew on her own face. It didn't quite meet her eyes, however, as she remembered the last time she was surprised with a house.

Twenty-six years earlier…

"Sorry I'm late; Mother needed help with the dishes and—"

"I may have to turn you into a pocket watch," Dougal said, a twinkle in his hazel eyes.

Minerva's heart pounded at his words, and she had to remind herself to calm down. Muggles didn't know about magic—Dougal didn't know about magic.

Remembering why she was there, she took a deep breath. "Dougal, I need to tell you something..."

"Alright, but let me show something first," he said, stepping behind her and covering her eyes. "It's a surprise."

She found her heart beating rapidly again as he guided her across the field near their families' properties. She didn't like having control of her movements taken away from her.

"Relax, I won't let you fall into any badger holes… this time," he said, chuckling as she groaned at the memory of twisting her ankle on a previous date. "Anyway, we're here."

"The old MacAllister farmhouse?" she asked when he released his hands.

"They're moving to the city, so I thought I'd put in an offer to buy it… for us."

Forgetting her troubles for a moment, Minerva leant back into him. The house itself was falling apart, with a few of the roof tiles needing replacing, but it was perfect.

"So, what do you think?" Elphinstone asked, walking around the spacious living room.

Minerva had the suspicion that it'd been illegally widened, but she supposed she could overlook it just this once. After all, it had a magnificent stone fireplace that she could curl up in front of with a book during the Christmas holidays.

"It's wonderful," she said, entering a room towards the back. It had large glass doors leading out into the small garden, allowing sunlight to spill into the room.

"I thought we could put an armchair in here, and maybe set up a chess table in the corner," Elphinstone said.

"I suppose a game would be nice on the weekends." She smiled at him. "I could walk down from the school."

"You haven't seen the best part yet."

As the brunet led her outside, Minerva looked down at her left hand. A small diamond caught the sunlight as she twisted the ring band. Elphinstone was always thinking of her needs. She wondered how she'd gotten so lucky to have someone like that in her life, let alone two people.

"What do you think? I know it's a little shabby, but I'm hoping to spend the summer fixing it up," Dougal said.

A fine layer of dust coated the worn floorboards, and the rickety staircase leading up to the second floor was missing a few balusters. It would need a lot of work to fix up, but it wasn't the reason Minerva's eyes began to tear up. Ever since she'd met Dougal, she'd dreamed they'd build a home together like this.

"It's not much, but it's close to home," he said. His eyes were still full of excitement as he wandered around each room. "It's not too close to our parents though, so you know, we can start a family of our own in peace," he added, wiggling his eyebrows.

Minerva blushed. "Dougal—"

"I know, you're from one of those fancy all-girl boarding schools and thus too proper to entertain such thoughts," he said.

She rolled her eyes, and the smallest hint of a smile crossed her face. Dougal really was an idiot; it was one of the reasons she'd fallen in love with him in the first place.

Her smile faded though as he continued to prance around the room, his excitement palpable. "Dougal, I need to—"

"I figure this room can be our kitchen and upstairs, you can set up a small library for yourself," he continued. "I can't wait to repaint the letterbox."

She had to tell him before it went any further. She may have once dreamed of living together, but now she also had bigger magical dreams. Dougal could never see the books she kept, or discover that her chess games involved pieces that moved by themselves. He couldn't even see that she received mail by way of owls in daylight. She wouldn't be like her mother, forced to keep her true self a secret and be miserable forever because of it.

"Please, Dougal, I need to tell you something…"

"And in here, I was thinking maybe we could put in a fireplace."

Minerva looked down at the ruby ring on her left hand. It felt like more time had passed than just the twelve hours since he'd proposed, and she wished she hadn't been foolish enough to accept.

If she hadn't, maybe she wouldn't have to break his heart now.

"Dougal—"

"I have one last thing to show you," he said, taking her hands.

"It's breathtaking," Minerva said, gazing around.

She'd only ever seen the front of the cottage before, never the backyard. She'd never realised that it rose on an incline, or that it had a spectacular view of the mountains surrounding the village. Sunlight filtered past their tall peaks, illuminating the grassy fields and shimmering lakes below.

"Can you imagine having a cup of tea every morning and looking out at that?" Elphinstone asked.

Tears began to well in her eyes as she nodded, still twisting her ring around.

"Breathtaking, isn't it?" Dougal said, leaning against the wire fence.

Minerva nodded, her throat too dry to speak. Acres upon acres of rolling green hills were spread out before her, broken only by the occasional glittering lake. Even when she was a small girl she'd imagined spending the rest of her life where the view would feed her sense of adventure and she could feel free.

Perhaps one day, she would be.

"So, do you think I should buy this house? Can we make it into our home?" Dougal asked.

Even though they were in the open, fresh air, Minerva found it hard to breathe. The only thing that was holding her together was the cool metal of the ring now clutched in her hand, and she squeezed it tighter.

"Dougal, I—"

The blond's smile dropped and his eyes filled with concern. "I know the MacAllisters are asking for above what I could earn, but I'm sure they'd negotiate…"

"I—"

"I mean, if you wanted to look around we could. We could even go to the city if you'd like," he continued, the nervousness in his voice audible.

It was as though he knew what she was going to say before she even said it. She allowed her eyes to roam over him for a moment, taking in his dusting of freckles and memorising the build of the muscles beneath his shirt.

"Minnie?"

"I'm sorry," was all she could manage as she took his hand and dropped the ring onto it.

Tears cascaded down her face as she fled back across the yard, through the house, and past the old milk bottle letterbox that would never have their names painted on it.

She didn't deserve it anyway.

"So, should we buy it?" Elphinstone asked, his face full of concern. "I mean, if you'd prefer something else…"

Minerva wiped the tears away and smiled; it was time she forgave herself. "Only as long as it's our forever home," she said.

Elphinstone breathed out. "Good, because I may have already put down a deposit."

"Oh?"

"Well, if you refused my proposal again, I figured you'd not be able to say no to this place. That, and I'd be closer to the school to keep asking you," he said, smirking.

Minerva rolled her eyes and headed back into the house—their house. As she did, she twisted her ring back around, smiling with both her lips and heart.

This time, she wouldn't let any of her dreams go.