A/N: Hey guys. It's been a while. Have been busy with prep for univeristy and have officially moved out :-) Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this little story. I would really appreciate feedback, and whether the characters are a little OOC or not. Enjoy!
She felt as if she was drowning in a sea of despair and felt empty without him. The sadness consumed her, but all that showed was a single tear trickling down her left cheek. She sat there in her warm quarters, but her skin was like ice.
Nothing could bring her out of the depression she was slowly sinking into. It was all too much for her. She painfully remembered his limp body lying there on the cold, hard ground. She remembers rushing over to him, and kneeling next to him. He did not move, and he did not speak, as his last breath was gone. His beautiful, twinkling eyes were now shut and devoid of light. His very being had been silenced.
It took months, but she broke down one day, after bottling up her sadness for so long. It was when she was teaching, which was the worst possible time. Normally, she would never let such a thing happen to her. But all the grief had been waiting to spill to the surface for a while now. It began as quiet sniffles, with the rare stray tear gliding slowly down her cheek.
She attempted shutting off the feelings beginning to consume her. She tried to stop the tears threatening to spill. But within a matter of minutes, it was useless. She lost the control that she had, and her body began to shake, as tears flowed over her cheeks mercilessly. She stood up as quietly as possible, but curious gazes turned towards her direction. She took one glance at her students, then moved swiftly out the classroom door.
She heard a stray, "Professor? Professor!" However, she was gone. She was thankful that the halls were deserted. It meant that nobody could see her like this, see her weak.
She swiftly moved down the halls, attempting to blink her eyes clear of the tears that clouded her vision. She only had one aim right now, which was to get to the privacy of her quarters.
In her attempt to hurry, she was not aware of the person person lurking in the halls, watching her every move from when he spotted her. He slowly made his way towards her, aware of the emotional state she had been in recently.
As Minerva travelled down the corridor, her mind was caught up in the vivid memory of her closest friend's death.
The sudden collision into something snapped her out of the memory, but the grief still plagued her mind. She felt hands gently gripping her arms to guide her up from the ground.
Minerva glanced up at the figure that had helped her. She saw the his lips moving but was unable to make sense of the words he spoke. She looked up at his face, identifying the long, black locks, and the silky voice. It was Severus.
"Minerva? Are you alright?" His tone was soft with worry.
Her lips tried to form an answer, but the worry in his tonality had the loneliness and grief for her dear, fallen friend Albus - and the the man that she once loved - overwhelm her. The tears came stronger this time, spilling the sadness onto her dress.
Severus, was not used to this kind of situation, but as a friend, he could not leave her in this state. He pulled the broken women into his arms and tried to calm her. He cradled her close to him, as she continued to cry. He whispered calming words into her ear, telling her that it would all be okay. That everything will be ok.
Her response was to tighten her grip on his shirt, clutching to him as if something terrible would happen if she let go.
He hated seeing her suffer. He hated when she was experiencing this much grief. Yet he would never show it. It wasn't like him to share what he was feeling. It certainly wasn't like him to comfort others, or initiate physical contact between him and others. But she needed it, so he would try to comfort her.
Between broken sobs, Minerva began describing the vivid memory to him, and explained that that was all she could see when she thought of Albus. She told Severus that it was hard to sleep at night because the memory was so vivid in her dreams.
It took a while for her to calm, but soon the tears lessened. When she was calm enough, Severus placed his arm on the small of her back, and guided her swiftly to her rooms.
At this point, they both understood the other without words. They had both become particularly close after the war, particularly when Minerva had forgiven him and when he had shown her Albus' memories. So it was in moments like these that he knew she needed time to think things through, and to properly process everything that had happened during and after the dreaded wizarding war.
The war had been very difficult for everyone, and the repairs to Hogwarts had kept everyone too distracted to properly process the grief and loss of close friends and family. It was particularly hard on Minerva, as she oversaw the repairs to the castle and multitasked with running the school and dealing with the ministry.
As soon as they arrived outside her room, the password was whispered to the portrait. Minerva entered her rooms in a daze.
They both walked to and settled down on the comfortable sofa side by side. He held her close to him with his arm draped across her shoulders. They gazed upon the roaring flames of the flickering fire, and became distracted by the dancing embers. Her head rested on his broad shoulder, and her arm fell across his abdomen.
The heat of the fire kept them warm, and their breathing began to slow. Her eyes fell shut first, and soon, she drifted off to a peaceful sleep. Severus in that moment became a guardian for her that night. He calmly watched her for a while, to ensure that she was okay. He soon followed her into a deep, peaceful slumber.
For the first time since Albus' death, Minerva felt a sense of peace.