There was a knock on the door at about quarter past two in the morning. Minerva was surprised, she knew who it was on the other side of the door. She had not managed to fall asleep so it didn't exactly bother her that he had decided to drop by at this unusual time of day, but she wondered what he wanted. Did he want to talk about what happened eariler? If so, she wasn't sure that was a good thing. Their most recent exchanges had ended up in tears for her. As a matter of fact, she wondered if she should dry the fresh tears off her face before answering the door.

She decided she wouldn't think too much about it. She was just hoping that he wouldn't be too mad at her still. She knew what this sudden outburst of his was all about. This wasn't Albus annoyed about her attitude, quite on the contrary, she was quite certain that it was her capability to be sensible and objective around him that he believed to be her strongest of assets as his right hand. He was clearly afraid. For some reason he was scared and that fear involved her in some way. Minerva knew that one of the few things that could bring out anger from Albus was fear; fear for something dear to him… or maybe something too important. She couldn't just yet put her finger on what it was, but she had to have been doing something to interfere with his plans in some way without being aware of it…

She sat on the edge of the bed thinking about this as she heard a second knock on the door. She grabbed a long black robe that was hanging from the back of a chair as she made her way to the door and put it on. Her hair was loose and falling neatly on her shoulders.

The door revealed just the person she expected.

"Albus," she said in a rather emotionless tone.

"Minerva," he replied in a soft voice. She could tell he was upset.

"Anything I can do for you at this lovely time of day?" she asked in what would usually be intended as a joke, but which now did not elicit laughter or even a smile from either of them.

"Do forgive my timing," there was a pause as she took her time to lift her gaze from the floor and try to look into his twinkling blue eyes. He blinked and she could tell he had noticed she had been crying. He sighed. "May I come in dear? I believe there are a few things I need to explain."

She stepped aside to let him through. She closed the door and turned around to see him standing right before her. The moonlight came in from a nearby window. He reached out for her hand and guided her to the bed nearby, where she had been sitting herself only seconds before. Once they were both sitting comfortably on the edge of the bed, he took her hands in his and gently caressed them.

"My dear, I am so terribly sorry. I am so ashamed of myself-"

"Albus," she interrupted "I know you're sorry. I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone, I know you enough. I just wish you would trust me enough to tell me what you're so afraid of."

He looked back at her and drove his hand to his lips to plant a soft kiss on them. Minerva was surprised by her own reaction as she closed her eyes in pure delight. She was even more surprised to feel his lips enveloping hers. His hands were suddenly massaging the back of her neck and exploring the texture of her hair. Her gasps and moans were barely audible, but he could hear them disntinctly and was proud to be the cause of them. The kiss grew in intensity as he became more aware of how much he'd hurt her, and how badly he really wanted to show this woman he adored her. When they parted he just continued to plant small kisses on her cheeks, occassionally kissing away some tears.

He pulled her into a hug ever so gently.

"Oh my dear I'm so sorry. How is it that you grew to know me so well? How is it that you know exactly what to say and I just keep being such an idiot?"

She looked up at him.

"Tell me what's wrong Albus."

"What's wrong is that once again, I find myself trying to figure out what the hell I am going to do if Voldemort decides to attack me by hurting the one person I love most. If you are, in any way implied in this battle, if I involved you in this project… I thought I would have been automatically endangering you… without giving you a chance to decide if that was what you truly wanted."

She placed a hand on his cheek and slowly run it down his face until her fingers were delicately tracing his lips.

"Albus, this is everyone's battle, you can't try to protect me from it," she was silent for a second. "I can assure you one thing," she stated, now more firmly, "if you had continued to try to keep me out of this I would have battled you until I had no strength left in me, because there is no way in hell, I would let the man I love battle an evil wizard by himself."

He kissed her again, but this time the kiss was brief.

"Yesterday I… when I… after seeing your magnificent creation, by the way… I realised I had forgotten something."

"And what is that?"

He lowered his lips to hers. His kiss grew passionate and Minerva found herself out of breath and unable to decide whether she should pull back for some air or just continue relishing on the intoxicating feeling of his lips on hers. It was Albus who broke the kiss.

"Happy Birthday, my love."

"I thought- I thought you-"

"I treated you so horribly… when I should have been trying to make you feel special and loved. Minerva, I could never forget your birthday." He reached for her hand and placed a small jewelery box in it. Minerva gasped at the sight of the box alone. "I was hoping to give it to you as soon as I returned from London, but… well… it's just that a giant wizard chess is not something you see everyday." They both laughed.

"I guess I managed to impress you then," she suggested with a smile.

"You did. Original, stylish and clever." He tillted her chin up just as she was about to open the little box so that he could look into her eyes. "I could never wish for a better deputy, and I hope you can forgive this old man for making you feel like you are anything other than perfect." He cupped her face in his hands and hushed her imminent reply with his own lips. "You probably worked day and night to get that done in time, didn't you?"

His right hand had not left her face, her eyes were closed now and she was leaning into his touch, her own hands holding his against her cheek as if she were trying to increase the contact with her skin. After a few moments of enjoying his touch she let go.

"I wanted to prove to you that I could pull it off, despite the fact that I was in charge of the school and, of course, had my own work to do."

He reached for the fur box, which was now resting on her lap, and opened it. Whatever was in it shone so brightly in the darkness that it took her eyes a few moments to adapt to the new light and finally distinguish the most elegant, gorgeous ring.

"It's goblin made. Its diamonds were taken out of goblin mines and they shine most brightly under the moonlight. A symbol of my eternal love for you and a reminder that you don't need to prove anything to me ever again, Minerva."

TBC.

Hi everyone, I apologise for the delay, I've been a bit busy lately. I also apologise for spelling mistakes and my terrible typing. Hope you enjoyed this one, there's more to come.