will she say yes?
Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was sitting in her neat and tidy office, or more precisely: at her desk, grading 4th year – essays with her personal emerald-coloured ink. The students´ homework sometimes bear more than doubtful results, but she was still in a good mood. The afternoon sun was brightly shining, illuminating and filling the room with a somehow magic and mild warm light.
She was almost done correcting papers and therefore looking forward to taking an amble walk along the school grounds this lovely afternoon before dinner.
The day had been quiet and quite peaceful so far, for no annoying Peeves, no grumbling Filch and no experimenting Weasley twins had caused any harm or trouble. Not even a single complaint about Professor Snape being unfair to Gryffindor house.
Reflecting afterwards, that day had almost been too good to be true.
Suddenly, she still was grading papers, a beautiful red and golden Phoenix appeared next to her out of nowhere. She didn´t get startled, for she was used to Fawkes silently appearing, carrying some news or information from the Headmaster. Instead she took a biskit and gave it to him. Falkes bit it, but only after dropping an envelope on the paper-loaded desk.
„Oh Falkes, did Albus degrade you again to deliver his letters?", she said with a stern look but in a gentle voice, standing up and caressing the phoenix´s head, which the rare bird enjoyed.
After a moment and as sudden as he had appeared next to Minerva, Falkes was gone again, his beautiful melody slowly fading away, too.
She wondered if something might have happened and picked up the envelope her boss sent her.
"to Minerva McGonagall" it said on the outside.
She got curious, for it must be some private matter, otherwise Albus Dumbledore would have used her formal title. It was a habit established a long time ago, when the two colleagues brought their professional relationship to another level. Over al the years they became good friends, spending some valuable time together talking, playing chess, listening to each other´s problems, the big and heavy ones just as much as the small and soon-gone-by- ones.
As time went by, they had a kind of friendship not many people – wizard or muggle – were allowed to have, they were able to talk without using words, for they (at least most of the time) knew what the other was thinking or intending to do.
Still, they never reached the final state in a friendship Minerva was secretly and deep withing her heard hoping for. She never admitted that feeling to anyone, and most of the years she didn´t even admit it to herself because after some many years in school she had built up a reputation and image in which „being in love" simply did not fit in.
„Just a crush", „impossible thing to long for" or „get reasonable, Minerva" she told herself in a quiet moment late at night, sitting by the fire when she was all by herself and catched herself daydreaming about a more serious, deeper relationship with Albus.
All the more she was shoked when she took the piece of white paper and read his lines.
"Dearest Minerva,
I have been thinking about this matter quite some time now, and finally I was able to make up my mind. As you know, people tend to call me great or even brilliant, but when it comes down to this subject, I have been nothing more than a coward. I thought I can do this on my own all my life, but I recognized: I can´t, it´s you – and only you- who can release me of this state. Now I have finally made up my mind to take all my famous courage and dare asking you. It is something rather important and that is why I would like to ask you personally and not via a letter.
Therefore I´d like to meet you after dinner in my private chambers.
Yours, Albus.
p.s. stop marking essays and enjoy this sunny day! There won´t be many more of these days this autumn!"
Minerva´s hands were shaking by now, she was hardly able to hold the paper any more. She re-read the letter, again and again. She took off her square glasses, looked up from the handwriting and out of the window in the width. Her scattered thoughts getting her nowhere until she wispered, for forming real words and speaking them out aloud will make all this more real.
„Is he...is he really...does he intend to ask me? Finally ? After all those years? Does he feel the same way and I never knew and recognized? He is going to ask something personal, important..."
Thinking hard, sorting and making up her mind, she got to no other result and solution:
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School, was going to ask her to marry him?