"I won't fall," Hermione said, voice fluttering over to where Minerva stood, watching her. She hadn't bothered to look to know the person that had come after her, was Minerva. The very familiar sound of Minerva's footsteps had given her away; if it hadn't been her unique feminine smell or just the feeling of her other half there. No one else would have come to find her there, the chances of another accidentally finding her there an hour past curfew small, too.
She never would have thought of finding happiness in the arms of a woman, let alone the strict now Headmistress of Hogwarts, but here she actually was, sitting on the balustrade of the Astronomy Tower, gazing down upon the domain of Hogwarts. Hermione McGonagall had been sitting there already for the last half hour, and her eyes had adjusted a little to the dusk, even though she still couldn't see much. She didn't actually care. She liked the feeling of being… free, feeling the wind through her hair and sweep over the patches of uncovered skin.
"I know," Minerva replied, walking up slowly behind Hermione but not quite touching her. Minerva let her gaze wander over the domain as well, seeing slightly more than Hermione due to already having been an Animagus for that long and some of the elder woman's cat traits therefore lingering in human form as well. Even though the younger woman sat there so freely, she felt as if the slightest touch right then would have been unwarranted – even if that might have been unconsciously. "I wondered where you were. When I returned from my shower, you weren't there anymore."
"I needed… air," Hermione replied, the answer cryptic yet honest, turning to look at her wife over her shoulder and offering her a small smile.
"I'm sorry for being unable to get from under the meetings with the Board of Governors…" she whispered and sighed. "I know how hard it has been at the Ministry and how hard it must have been to get the time off even with Christmas nearing."
"I don't mind. I knew and was the one suggesting to come anyway, wasn't I?" she said, turning her upper body toward her wife more. "Besides, I rather enjoy the brief times that I do see you in between the meetings than not at all." That didn't actually make Minerva feel better at all, and it must have shown on her facial features, for Hermione quietly reached for her forearm and curled her lithe fingers around it, making emerald green eyes meet hers. "Please don't take offence. I didn't mean it like that. I know about those responsibilities which you cannot run from. I knew when I married you, and I'll never ask you to neglect them just for my sake," she said and carefully tugged at Minerva's arm, an invitation for the older woman to finally step closer and wrap her arms around her wife.
"Your understanding means a lot to me," Minerva whispered, holding her wife against her tightly and dropping a kiss on her hair.
"Life saver," Hermione murmured, then sighed.
"Would you like to talk about it?" she wondered. There must have been either an occurrence or a reason for the younger woman not to have joined her in the shower and having slipped from the headmistress' personal chambers to the Astronomy Tower. She already had a vague idea of what it could possibly be, but that didn't mean she wasn't still there to listen.
Hermione's head shook. "Not… right now," she said. A silence fell between both witches until Hermione continued. "I don't… I've always… been able to fall back on you: when the relationship between me and Ron slowly began to shatter and… You've always been there for me, never asking for anything in return, even though you didn't have to."
"That's what good comrades do, love," she said. "That makes it that I in fact do have to."
"I don't wish to feel like an obligation to you," Hermione said, eyes closing as a feeling of intense guilt washed over her. It felt like all she had done first in their casual companionship and then in their relationship was taking and giving so little in return. Minerva had always said that Hermione already gave more in return than she thought and her unconditional love and the knowledge that she was there if ever Minerva needed it as well was quite enough. However, Minerva had a few more years of experience in life and in dealing with things. Minerva had dealt with a lot of things in her life already and she knew some things were not worth having them define you. She herself had been in her position and knew. She knew what it could possibly mean to be able to fall back on another. So she tried to be that person for Hermione… all that she herself had longed for in her position, but had never come.
"Hermione, I love you," she said.
"Would you have still been there if you hadn't fallen in love with me and I with you?"
"Of course," she whispered. "I have only met few who have earned my loyalty and worry, but those who have earned it, have always been able to count on me – or so I would like to believe, at least," she said. She leaned her head on Hermione's shoulder, breath washing from her flared nostrils tenderly teasing the younger woman's skin along her neck and jaw line.
"Most of the… comrades I have ever met would never even consider doing what you did for me until we stepped over the line that night."
A snicker left Minerva's lips as she, too, recalled that one night Hermione was talking about. It actually tickled her to hear yet again that few seemed to expect that the elder woman had a kind hearted nature beneath the posture of strict headmistress… She sighed, and a silence fell between both women again. "I never would have guessed that at this age I'd still find myself married and certainly not to a nice, young and attractive thing like you – and a former pupil as well. However, it still feels right, and I don't regret any of what happened between us."
"Are you… happy?" Hermione questioned, looking up at her wife from between her eyelashes.
"I am," Minerva said. "Are you?"
Hermione nodded. "I am. I haven't…" It would be a lie, saying she hadn't been so unconcerned in a while considering the thoughts that were running through her head. Things would most likely have been worse had she not stepped in in time and changed all that her life was to something that maybe not everyone would have immediately expected but that she wanted and possibly even needed as well, though. "I never would have guessed it either," Hermione admitted, "but I don't regret anything. I love you so much." Her lips touched Minerva's in a brief kiss.
"I love you more," Minerva said, laughing aloud before kissing her beloved wife again before another battle could ensue about who loved who more.