Author's Whining: Oy! I have only just now figured out how to fix errors in a chapter without deleting and starting over. Embarrassing. This means previous chapters are now improved which, of course, helps none of you who have already read them. I am still a victim of the Disappearing Line Curse. If this chapter does not have three lines in it, PLEASE GOD, tell me what I am doing wrong.
Thank you everyone for all the kind comments. It is amazing the thrill I get when I come to check on how my story is being received. I am becoming a little love junkie.
He wasn't sure how long he had lain there, completely lost in thought as he watched Minerva sleep. He concluded that, as wonderful as it was to hear this amazing witch murmur "oh, yes, my love" in response to his ministrations, he liked this as well... just the sound of her sleeping there next to him. Her deep, peaceful breaths soothed him. Could I really make her happy? He smirked at the thought... adding for a sustained amount of time outside of bed. Was something as tenuous as contentment possible for him? A small measure of it, perhaps, at last.
She stirred and stretched, and then tugged her blankets a little higher. "Mmmm," she said, smiling in response to her delicious thoughts. And then, she managed, "Good morning," to the man that lay there staring at her.
"You've never told me why you aren't at Hogwarts anymore," he said as he idly stroked at her shoulder.
"Other people just say 'Good morning,' Severus," she chided. "I resigned," she said finally.
"When?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically light.
"Three weeks after the battle. I split my days between here and Hogwarts for three weeks after I brought you here. I don't think anyone ever wondered why they couldn't find me for a few hours. There was so much chaos." Her tone was solemn.
"Minerva..." he said softly, sensing her distress.
"It was ...difficult," she said finally as she shifted her eyes from him to stare at the ceiling and regain her composure. "When I wasn't here hovering over you, I was there..." she sighed, "helping with the dead, the wounded or the damage done to the castle." She shook her head as she looked at him. "No. No more crying. I won't start again," she vowed despite her full eyes. "I have no right."
"Why not?"
"Because you made it. You're here." She gave him a squeeze, then her tone changed. "But, you need to think about what you're going to do. I have no delusions about you wanting to stay here forever." She pulled her robe on and headed for the bathroom.
"So, a little shag and you are tossing me out? Perhaps I was looking forward to being a kept man," he called out to her back.
"Oh, Severus," she responded with exasperation as she turned. "Must you willfully misconstrue? I am not kicking you out. And I am not merely trying to fill my bed. These past two months would easily qualify as the most extreme measures ever taken to fill my bed! I would like us to be... together... indefinitely. But I do not want a caged lion on my hands."
It was with additional irritation that she noted that he was enjoying her display of irritation. "Two weeks," she announced as she continued on to the bathroom. "during which we will try to have more nights like last night than we do nights where we try to kill each other. And THEN," she said sticking her head out the bathroom door, "I will ask you to think a bit about your future." She started to loosen up her robe, "Now, my Lothario, I am going to take a bath."
He pushed up onto one elbow and raised his eyebrows at her. She immediately narrowed her glance at him in mock disapproval. "You just like winding me up," she complained. "I swear this is some Slytherin form of foreplay. You are very lucky that I like seeing you happy, even when it is at my expense."
"Does that mean I can come in?"
"Well, it is an unusually large tub..." she relented as she ducked back into the bathroom.
"And where does the world think I am. And you?" he asked as he pushed with disdain at the mountains of foamy bubbles in the tub.
"Well, when I resigned it was just good bye, farewell, no forwarding address," she said with a dismissive gesture. "We buried you, " she said as calmly as she could.
He glared at her.
"I'm sorry," she told him. "I've gotten used to the idea. I can see where you might not have." A shiver ran across him despite the warm water in the tub. "You were not the only one left in the Shrieking Shack," she continued. "I do not know who's... remains I passed off as yours. But after what people had seen, it was easy for them to accept that that was you."
"You mean they were glad to think it was me."
"No. Severus, not at all," she insisted gently. "Now that the truth is out, with the memories that you released to Harry, you are a hero." She waited for him to say anything and finally she asked, "Do you want to go back?"
"No," he said quite simply without a moment of hesitation.
After a long silence she told him in soothing tones, "Turn around, love, and scoot back here to me. I'll scrub your back." He turned and when his back was to her, she reached her long arms out to his shoulders and gently drew him to her between her upright knees. She gave his back a cursory sponging before she settled him against her chest and kissed the back of his neck. Then she pulled him tighter and placed her hand over his heart.
Closing his eyes at her touch, he realized what a marvel she was. Seeing he was uncomfortable with the conversation, she had deftly changed the subject, offered him physical comfort in the guise of washing his back, and given him the opportunity to turn around so that he would no longer have to keep his face inscrutable.
"Sometimes I worry for my sanity," he told her. "Memories pull me in. It's unsettling. I feel it as much as see it. And I don't seem to be much of a match for death and mayhem anymore. Just then, I could feel myself on the floor of the shack... cold, so sure I would die."
Her hands stilled, then her grip loosened and she made to release him. "We've taken this all too fast. I've taken this too fast."
He grabbed her hands. "No, Minerva. Don't let go. I need this."
She hugged him tightly and placed her head against his back. "Oh, love. How do we get through this then?"
"Just time," he whispered.
Niall was quiet and his wife knew what was bothering him.
"Your mother's been back at the cottage for almost two days now and we've heard nothing from her." She eyed him hoping he would say something, but he wouldn't take the bait. He didn't even look at her. So she walked over to where he was sitting and brushed at his bristly hair with its premature grey. "This is all a little too weird for you, huh?" she said softly.
"What is?"
"That the cottage has turned into the Love Shack."
"Asha! Ugh. That is ... not what I want to think about," he complained, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
"I think it's nice," she insisted, smiling. "Look, if you don't do something they are going to think you are avoiding them. Send an owl over, so you don't disturb them," she said, her eyes sparkling with amusement, "and invite them over for dinner tomorrow."
Minerva sat at the desk in the corner of the side room. She looked up when Severus walked in.
"An owl's come, Severus. Asha and Niall want us to come over for dinner." She stood up to show him the piece of paper.
"Why would they send an owl?"
"Mmmm, I think they don't want to intrude."
Severus groaned. "So, we are a spectacle?"
"No... they are letting us avoid that."
"But, we are going to be scrutinized," he said pained.
"I would hardly say 'scrutinized,' Severus. But it would be nice if Niall was not left with the impression that his old fool of a mother was showering her affection on a man who did not care for her."
"So, appropriate amounts of affection displayed then?" he asked summoning a wolfish smile. "Should we strategize? Let's see... hand holding?"
"Not necessarily. Too... youngish?" she wondered, tapping a finger to her lips with mock thoughtfulness.
"Discreet touches, hmm?" he drawled as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I would not call THIS discreet."
"Perhaps you would prefer it if at the end of the evening, we let them catch us kissing in the hallway when they return with our cloaks." He nuzzled her neck and pulled her in tight against him with a hand to her lower back.
"Mmmmm," she purred, followed by, "But, don't you dare!"