Albus remained rooted to the spot, staring at the door which had just closed behind Minerva. He remembered how all those years ago, when she had come back to teach at Hogwarts he had been amazed by her beauty and her wit. His once favourite student had grown into a magnificent woman. With time he had grown to know her better and he had learnt of her gentleness and her maternal instincts, her sense of humour and her unwavering loyalty... to him. He had always valued her views and opinions, but he hadn´t realised how wrong he had been that night at the meeting by dismissing her like he had. He could see now how she must have felt. A sudden sense of emptiness overwhelmed him, and he knew then that he was not going to allow himself to lose her tonight.
He ran out of his office hoping to catch up with her. She was a fast runner in her animagus form, but he trusted that he knew her well enough that he would eventually find her.
"Minerva!" he called as he walked hurriedly down the empty corridors, "Minerva please come back!"
He looked for her in every possible place, her classroom and her office were both empty and the portraits in Minerva's office hadn't seen her enter her room. He had never meant to ignore her feelings or hurt her in any way, yet he always seemed to get things wrong with her. The previous year he had not been at Hogwarts for her birthday, he had traveled to London to meet the Minister of Magic. Every year, they would celebrate her birthday with a nice game of chess and maybe a little something to drink... which sometimes led to interesting situations. One year he had given her a particularly long kiss on the cheek, which to him seemed the logical thing to do after a few glasses of brandy, since then, however, he had decided to switch to hot chocolate. Yet the previous year, he had been completely absent because of "matters that required his urgent attention" according to the Minister himself. They always required his urgent attention. As much as he tried, he could not remember what important business he had been attending to, but he did remember the disappointment in her face when he had come back to apologise for missing it.
He searched the dungeons and the astronomy tower, the kitchens and every empty classroom he found on his way. It was past three in the morning, and still he hadn't found her. He stopped beside a large window and looked out at the star-filled sky, wondering. He did not want to rest, but his back was killing him and he had a splitting headache. He wasn't able to think properly anymore and some sleep might do him good.
"Albus?" came a voice from the other end of the hallway. The light emerging from the tip of the witch's wand was blinding him, but he could recognize her voice.
"Sybill dear, what are you doing up at this hour?"
"Couldn't sleep, I have been having bad dreams lately. I was going down to the kitchens to get some hot chocolate", the moonlight bathed her figure as she approached him, lowering her wand.
"Care to join me?", she added.
"Alas, I am heading straight to bed Sybill, I am in urgent need of sleep."
"Oh, I see..."
"You haven't seen Professor McGonagall around, have you?"
"Minerva... no, I don't believe I have Albus...", she thought for a moment, then she continued. "She'll be in bed I expect, it's not like her to be up at this hour."
There was a pause and Trelawney seemed to take a sudden interest in the night sky visible through the window. "Oh dear... Jupiter doesn't seem to be on our side, does it?"
"I guess not my dear...", Dumbledore pretended to examine the sky, "so you haven't seen her? She might have been in her animagus form...a tabby cat, perhaps?"
"Tabby... yes I think I might have seen a cat... could've been Mrs. Norris, then again, I am not quite sure it was a tabby cat... anyways if it was her she is probably far from here now, I doubt that she would want to hang around with me."
"She's not very fond of me either these days."
"Well... she can be a bit... stiff sometimes...", Trelawney added as her magnified eyes scrutinized the sky beyond the window. "But she'll come out of it headmaster, she's always been so fond of you."
Dumbledore chuckled.
"Back when I started teaching transfiguration Minerva was in her seventh year at Hogwarts," Albus recalled with a smile on his face, "we used to have private lessons when I was training her to become an animagus. I joked once that she was so stubborn that I believed her animagus form might be a mule, and she didn't talk to me for a whole week."
They both laughed.
"Yes, well, classic Minerva", Albus added still smiling as he remembered all those wonderful afternoons they had spent training and discussing every mistake on Transfiguration Today's newest articles.
"I am worried about her, Sybill, I have been looking for her for hours... and nothing."
"I am sure headmaster that she'll come round eventually," she repeated, and Dumbledore could tell that her mind was more interested now in whatever was going on with Jupiter than in talking to him.
Albus sighed. "Well, do let me know if you see her, will you?"
"Of course, we could always ask the cards," she suggested, her eyes wide with expectation. "It will only take me a minute."
"Oh, I wouldn't want to trouble you Sybill." The last thing he needed at this precise moment was a fortune-telling session. "But, should the need arise, I will let you know at once." He smiled and bowed his head. "I bid you good night, then."
"Absolutely... Good night then, Albus." She replied, as she returned to her stargazing.
Before heading to his dormitory, Albus tried Minerva's office once more. The portraits were not at all happy to be woken yet again, but they confirmed they hadn't heard or seen her enter her rooms. He then headed straight to his rooms, his head still aching and wondering whether his worried mind would let him sleep at all.