Author: Lash_Larue
Title: "Sunset and Evening Star"
Pairing: Wilhelmina/Minerva, mostly
Rating: PG13
Summary: All good things come to an -
Warnings: Sentimental claptrap, mortality, really, feel free to skip it, in fact I recommend that.
Word Count: 930
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling
"Sunset and Evening Star"
Wilhelmina made her slow and careful way out to the pig pen with the kitchen scraps, dumped them into the trough, and then settled creakily onto a nearby bench where she fished her pipe from her pocket.
"Eat up, my friends," she said with a chuckle, her eyes crinkling with the smile that the sight of her animal friends enjoying their dinner always brought to her. She filled her pipe with the ease of long practice and lit it with a tap of her wand. When she had it drawing properly she leaned back and slowly stretched her legs out in front of her, sighing in content.
How many evenings had she spent watching how many pigs enjoy their dinner? How many lambs had she welcomed into the world? She shook her head at the hopelessness of arriving at an accurate figure, and reckoned that there had been ample quantities of each.
A good word, ample, and one that upon looking back she decided that she could fairly apply to her own life. Ample. More than sufficient. She took a long draw on her pipe, contentedly watching the red glow, serenely observing the rings of smoke she exhaled rippling and expanding until they simply faded away gently.
There had been sorrows, of course there had, no life escaped those, but these had been more than balanced by joys small and great, love and friendship, a life of purpose.
An ample life.
"Minerva..." she whispered. "I do miss your touch…"
Wilhelmina's head drooped as she surrendered to the day, her hand securely holding her pipe out of long habit.
"I wonder if you could help me with this essay on unicorn reproduction?" asked the tall girl with the long, coal-black hair.
"Sorry?" Wilhelmina queried, looking up from her book.
"Do excuse me, please. I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm having a bit of trouble sorting this out. I just can't see the relationship between human female virgins, unicorns, and unicorn reproduction. I'm Minerva McGonagall; we share Care of Magical Creatures."
Wilhelmina knew that full well, a fair part of every class was devoted to covertly observing Minerva McGonagall, and if Wilhelmina had not arrived at Hogwarts knowing so much she would have been far from first in the class, for she paid much more attention to Minerva than the instructor.
"There isn't one," Wilhelmina replied.
"There isn't one what?"
"Relationship. Between human female virgins and unicorn reproduction," Wilhelmina clarified.
"Oh. But, Mervyn says –"
"Mervyn had three daughters, and he was a horse's arse. He made that bit up to keep his girls away from the local lads and it slipped into print. Stick to Douglas, she had it right," Wilhelmina told her.
"Oh. Dear. That's – that's really inexcusable. For misinformation like that to make it into print, I mean," Minerva replied, blushing faintly.
"There's a lot of nonsense in print about unicorns," Wilhelmina explained further, "about the only generalization that is true is that they really are much more wary of human males than females. It's a pheromone thing, I believe. Well, that and the way the boys are always trying to prove how brave they are by trying to ride one of them. Unicorns don't fancy someone on their backs, as a rule."
"Well, one can scarcely blame them for that," Minerva acknowledged, "the unicorns, I mean."
"Would you like to?" Wilhelmina asked suddenly.
"Like to what?"
"Ride one. A unicorn, I mean," Wilhelmina clarified.
"Really? Is that possible?" Minerva asked, fascinated and a little excited at the thought.
"I think so, for you, that is. I think she'd take to you," Wilhelmina told her. "Mind you, we'd have to sneak into the forest."
"Isn't it dangerous in there?"
"Not so much in the daytime. One has to watch for adders, but the really dangerous creatures aren't about much in the daylight," Wilhelmina explained.
"What about centaurs? I know they aren't nocturnal, and well, I've heard that they –"
Wilhelmina began to chuckle.
"More nonsense, centaurs are no more attracted to other species than any other creature is. Mind you they are quite haughty, but so long as you treat them with respect there is little to fear."
Arabella had indeed taken to Minerva, first gently snuffling her hand and then allowing Wilhelmina to boost Minerva astride her back.
Flushed with excitement, Minerva slid from the mare's back and embraced Wilhelmina in joy and gratitude.
"I can see there is much that I can learn from you …" Minerva said softly.
As first years, and then decades passed, it developed that they each learned quite a lot from the other.
They learned of friendship, and love, and eventually they learned of sex, and the joys of surrendering one to the other.
Throughout their long lives, they also each loved other people, even together, as Rolanda simply refused to choose between them.
But at the end of the day, when joints creaked and bones ached, they had always returned to each other. The comfort and familiarity of long years of trust and companionship a pull that neither cared to resist, and it had been in Wilhelmina's still-strong arms that Minerva had at last slipped into her final sleep, secure in the love they shared.
Smoke no longer rose from the pipe, and the steady and powerful beat of Wilhelmina's heart slowed, and only the pigs saw when a slender shadow arrived and took up the sturdy hand that lay open on the bench, only they heard the call.
Only they saw the unicorns.