Chapter Seven: More Innocent Talking – Right?
A few months passed. Summer turned into autumn and autumn turned into winter and Minerva and Albus became closer each day.
At least once a week, they met for a nice game of chess. By now, Albus had observed Minerva so many times that he knew some of her tricks and sometimes even won a game.
Now that the first snowflakes had fallen, they'd decided to take a little walk over the grounds of Hogwarts.
Although Albus had told her a lot of secrets about Hogwarts and she knew almost every secret passage by heart, there were always things that still surprised Minerva.
While walking through the snow that was lying on the Forbidden Forrest's ground, Albus took a path they'd never taken before.
"Albus, where are we going?"
"You will see, my dear. Just trust me."
"You know that I trust you. It's just that it's getting colder by every minute we're outside and you've promised me a nice cup of hot tea."
"Sorry, my dear, but that's not true."
"I beg your pardon?!"
By now, Albus knew Minerva's Scottish temper and therefore he always tried not to provoke her anymore than necessary to have some fun.
"That's not what I said, Minerva. I promised you a nice cup of hot chocolate."
"Whatever."
Albus took off his coat and wrapped it around Minerva.
"Thank you, Albus. But what about you?"
"I'm okay, Minerva. We'll be there in a few more minutes."
So they continued their walk.
Albus suddenly turned to the right. "That's what I wanted to show you."
"Wow ... Albus, I didn't know there were any houses in the Forbidden Forrest."
"That's why I brought you here, my dear."
They went inside the little building and Minerva was surprised to find that there was a fire burning. She took off Albus' and her own outer robes and sat down next to Albus on a little sofa that was placed in front of the fireplace.
Albus handed her the promised cup of hot chocolate and they both enjoyed the steaming fluid.
"That tastes really good, Albus. I never thought that I would like cacao."
"I knew that you would like it."
She took another sip.
"Sometimes I think that you know me even better than I know myself."
"That's not true. There are a lot of things I don't know about you, my dear."
"For example?"
"Why have you declined every invitation for the Yule Ball?"
"If I had accepted one of the invitations the person who'd offered it would have thought that I liked him."
"Are you saying that you don't like your colleagues?"
"Albus! You know what I'm trying to say."
"I don't want to hurt anyone. Therefore, it wouldn't have been wise if I agreed to go out with one of them."
"But some of your colleagues are really young, nice, good-looking men. Are you sure that it's absolutely impossible for you to fall in love with one of them?"
"Albus, I know what kind of man I like and I can guarantee you that I would never be able to fall for any of my colleagues."
"I just want you to be happy, Minerva."
"Thank you, Albus. But I am really happy at the moment. It's almost Christmas, I have a job I really love, I have some very good friends and I'm able to spend a lot of time with my best friend."
"But you won't find the love of your life by spending all your free time with me."
"Maybe."
