A/N: READ AUTHOR'S NOTE! Just a heads-up, this chapter contains some sort-of smut. Here, I define smut as 'sort-of described almost-sex'. Basically, this chapter is a warning for a chapter that will come later. Don't know when I will gift to you full-blown sex scene, but I GUARANTEE I will give you fair warning at the beginning of the chapter, and I will do my best to make sure nothing plot-important besides the implied happens in that chapter. Thanks for reading all this, and I hope you enjoy!

Albus sat in his office that night, a soothing cup of hot chocolate before him. Would she come? They had arranged to play chess that night, but perhaps she had forgotten. No, that wouldn't be like her, he thought. Either she'd remember and come, or she'd remember and wouldn't. Albus glanced at the clock. Three minutes to eight. Eight wasn't necessarily the agreed time, but nine would be much too late to start a chess game if curfew was ten thirty. Two minutes now. Albus sighed. His chess pieces were tapping their toes. One minute now.

"I don't think she's coming, lad." Said the white king.

"Just you hush." Hissed the black queen. Albus gave the chess pieces no acknowledgement. The clock struck eight. No Minerva. Albus sighed and began packing up the pieces. Well, even if she did show up later, perhaps they could simply talk for a while, though chess would have easily eliminated many of the awkward silences. Suddenly, the door burst open.

"Sorry I'm late, Albus. My friends simply wouldn't listen to me. Honestly, Svenson's Principal really isn't that hard to understand, but you'd think it was cold fusion if you talked to them about it." Said Minerva, breathing a little heavily. She saw the half-packed chess pieces, "I'm sorry sir, is it too late to start a game?" Dumbledore smiled at her, doing his best to hide his relief. She had come. A 17-year-old girl had just chosen to spend her Friday night playing chess with her Transfiguration teacher. And her soul mate, a part of his mind reminded him. Albus cleared his throat and said,

"No, not too late at all. I was just… unpacking them." He began removing the pieces he had just put in the bag. The black queen piped up,

"I knew you'd show up, lass! I just knew it! Didn't I tell you, King?" She turned to the white king, who said gruffly,

"She's late, so I was half right." Albus was doing his best to ignore the pieces, but Minerva was working to silence a giggle.

"Well, I'm here now, so Black Queen was mostly right." She said with a grin. Black Queen puffed her chest out, while White King pointedly said nothing. Minerva looked at Dumbledore, "Shall we begin?"

Three hours later, they had finally finished their game. Dumbledore won, but only by a smidgen. Minerva sat back in her chair,

"Well, I think it's safe to say that we'll have many an interesting chess game in the years to come." She said. Dumbledore smiled at her. Minerva smiled back, then frowned, "What's that?" she said leaning forward.

"What? Is there something on my face?" asked Dumbledore, swiping a hand down his once-broken nose.

"No, no it's nothing like that. It's just…your eyes are twinkling." She said. Dumbledore turned to a glass bottle nearby, seeking his reflection,

"Ah. So they are." He said.

"Is that… normal?"

"For me? Not that I know of, no. I've certainly never had anyone comment on it before." He said. Minerva looked down at her lap,

"I apologize if I was rude. It was just something I…noticed." Said Minerva. Albus was leaning forward now, his twinkling eyes coming closer and closer and staring deeper and deeper. Minerva couldn't bring herself to pull back. At the last moment, her eyes closed and she tilted her head just to the side to avoid his nose. Their lips lightly touched. Albus's hands twined themselves in Minerva's hair, her hands running up and around his shoulders. It felt right, to be held by this man. Suddenly Minerva very much regretted having a bulky table between them. Albus must have been thinking the same thing, because soon it Vanished. He pulled back just long enough to smile at her, then kissed her again. Without even meaning to, Minerva ended up straddling him in his chair. He was warm beneath her, a warm body Minerva very much enjoyed being atop. She pulled back for a breath and noticed something very hard poking into her thigh. Albus looked at a point just over Minerva's shoulder as he said,

"I'm sorry about…this," he glanced down at his lap and what protruded from it, "I should be able to better control myself." Minerva was about to wave away his apology with one of her own before a voice seemed to whisper in her ear, Be daring. After all, he's someone you'll know forever. Might as well show him what he's in for now. Throwing propriety to the wind, Minerva smirked smugly before placing her mouth next to her professor's ear,

"If this," she whispered, lightly running her fingers down and up his shaft. Albus shivered at her touch as she continued, "hadn't happened, I'd be rather offended." Albus laughed at that,

"And who am I to cause the lady offense?" He pulled her in for another kiss, one Minerva happily returned. When they pulled back, the tension had thickened. A clock ticked on the mantle. Albus's eyes seemed to have darkened with lust, light blue now a darker, more seductive ocean color. Minerva's chest was heaving beneath her robes as she struggled to catch her breath. They stared at each other for a while, neither saying a word. Then Albus broke the silence,

"I understand if this has progressed too fast for you, Minerva. If you don't want to do anything more tonight, I'm alright with that. I don't want to force you into anything too fast." He said. Minerva thought for a moment, then said quietly,

"It's after curfew."

"So it is." He agreed.

"And I'm the Head Girl."

"So you are."

"So I can stay out as late as I want and say I was patrolling."

"That you could."

"So the real question in this, Albus," she leaned over and whispered in his ear, "is how fast do you want this to go?" He needed no more provocation than that. He growled and lifted Minerva, carrying her bridal-style to an unmarked door. He kicked it open with a bang and walked over, gently laying her on the bed. She lay there, panting with her arms stretched above her head and legs spread wide. She wanted him so much, so badly. Every part of her cried out for his touch, his taste. And Minerva was not one to be denied.

She pulled Albus down on top of her, his hands fumbling with her school tie. As he worked, Minerva kissed his face, his neck, whatever part of him she could reach. After her tie was flung across the room, Minerva roughly worked off his robes, scratching and pulling at whatever fabric wasn't moving fast enough. Even as she looked up at his face, Minerva could see he had a finely sculpted body beneath the suit he still wore. Albus worked hard to pull off her sweater, silently cursing whoever had ever decided girls had to wear so many damn clothes. Once it was off, he looked down to see a white shirt. A very transparent white shirt, revealing more than a hint of red and gold lace beneath. He grinned at the sight.

"My little lioness." He said. Minerva smiled,

"Well, I thought it went rather well with the tie." Both laughed. Minerva bright green eyes looked up at Albus and he looked down at her.

"What do you want?" he whispered. Minerva looked up at him with deep emerald eyes,

"Make love to me." Albus leaned down and softly kissed her sternum, as low as the (regretfully) still-buttoned shirt would allow. Minerva was eager for more, but he pulled back with a thoughtful look on his face.

"You are my student, Minerva. We agreed earlier not to fulfill this aspect of soul mating until you graduated."

"I graduate in six months, close enough." She said, quite obviously frustrated. Albus grinned down at her,

"Patience, Min. Delayed gratification."

"But what if I want my gratification right now? Graduation be damned, I want you in me right here and right now. Besides, I seriously doubt our little time limit extends to six months. Sooner or later, Albus, we're going to need each other in the most carnal way possible." Said Minerva with a pout. Albus hesitated. She was right, of course. Already he knew he wanted her far more than any teacher should want a student. But still, he needed to wait. His conscience needed to wait as long as he could before taking the young woman to bed.

"Be that as it may, Minerva, we need to be reasonable. Do we have protection? I'd hate for your graduation photos to be ruined by a pregnant belly. As much as I want you, which is very badly, we must wait." He said. Minerva sighed. Much as she hated it, she saw his reasoning. She sat up on her elbows,

"Well if I'm going to get back to my room, I'm going to need my clothes back. And to, you know, get up." Albus couldn't help but smile at his disgruntled lioness as he climbed off her. She quickly gathered her things and left. Albus watched her leave, admiring the way her school skirt managed to hug her bum just right. He shook his head at his own insanity and walked back into his bedroom, shutting the door behind himself. Both Minerva and Albus knew it was going to be a long night.

A/N: Yes, we were this close. But alas, the sex was not to be. In this chapter, at least. Hee hee hee… *wink*