Chapter 10

That night Albus had come to Minerva's rooms, as he always used to, had gathered her in his arms. They had clung together, held each other as though they would never let go. He'd kissed her with a passion made fiercer by how close he'd come to loosing her.

Now Minerva lay in Albus's arms, as he slept exhausted by her side. His presence was warm and soothing, she could hear the rythmic beat of his heart, as she rested her head on his chest. Their breathing rose and fell harmoniously. She was cradled in a haven of security and love, felt more at home here than anywhere else. Yet Minerva was not entirely happy.

At first it had been bliss to be held by Albus again, to be touched by him, to feel his passionate kisses on her skin. Minerva's worries had drowned in the joy of his embrace. Now though, as Albus slept, her thoughts and concerns turned once more to Harry. She couldn't help but worry about him, he was like a grandson to her.

Minerva had always trusted Albus, always respected his decisions. This time however she found it hard, couldn't banish her fears from her mind. If Minerva was honest with herself, she still wasn't happy with Albus's decision to leave Harry with the Dursleys. Minerva understood the reasons why Albus thought it neccessary, it was logical, rational, seemed to make sense. She knew also that Albus always wanted to keep everyone safe, sometimes at the expense of other concerns. He had seen so many people killed by both Grindewald and Voldemort, it was understandable that he wanted to do his best to protect everyone. Despite his kindness and compassion, his wisdom, Albus sometimes made choices that were purely intellectual, too much based in thought. 'What about love ... and loss ?' Minerva asked herself, 'What about Harry's needs ? What about my needs ?' All her motherly instincts, always fiercely aroused by Harry, cried out that Albus was wrong, and try as she might, she could not surpress them.

So Minerva lay sleepless and tormented in her lovers arms, unable to be as blissfully, joyously, relaxed as normal in his embrace. Next to her, Albus stirred fitfully and moaned, as though suffering a bad dream. Glancing at him in concern, Minerva noticed the dark circles under his eyes, the gauntness of his face. To see him so, filled her with sorrow. Minerva reached out gently and stroked his hair, as it shone like gossamer in the moonlight, she loved the feel of him so much. Tenderly she carressed the worry lines that marked his face, as if her touch could make them vanish. As her hand stroked his cheeks, adoration flowed from her into him, seeming to sooth him somehow, making his face appear younger and more at peace.

Albus loved Harry too, he adored him, saw him as a grandson, Minerva knew this must be hard on Albus as well. Even if he did seem to be dealing with it better than she was, that was just his way. Surely he would not send Harry anywhere he thought he might be ill treated, Albus seemed to think that Petunia could be trusted, could he be right ? What if he wasn't right though, how could they be sure if Harry was being well cared for ? Albus sometimes trusted people too easily, in Minerva's view trust had to be earned, but Albus gave trust freely, even to those who didn't seem to deserve it. It was one of his strengths, one of the reasons he was so well loved by so many, but it was also a weakness. Minerva's every instinct screamed that he was wrong to trust Petunia.

Minerva reminded herself that Albus had suffered just as much as she had, she felt a twinge of guilt for having avoided him these last days. He had been right, they should not let this come between them, from now on she would be by his side, as she always had been. They would get through this together somehow, Minerva's mouth set in a determined line. Unbidden, the thought entered her mind, 'Maybe I can at least persuade him to go check on Harry, or let me go, surely this wouldn't be unreasonable. They really ought to check that he was being cared for properly, there couldn't be much risk in that, surely Albus would agree with her.' If by any chance, Harry wasn't being looked after properly, then there would be every reason to remove him from the Dursleys care, and bring him home, where he belonged, with her and Albus. Minerva almost hoped that Harry wasn't being well cared for, she was so desperate to have him with her.

Soothed by this thought, Minerva finally fell asleep. Only to be woken a couple of hours later, by Albus's beard tickling her nose, as he bent to kiss her good morning. "Gerroff." Minerva grumbled, still half asleep. "Damm mosquitos." She swatted the air with her hand, woke up fully, when she heard Albus say Ouch, and saw him holding his crooked nose ruefully.

"It's your own fault, you shouldn't kiss me when I'm asleep." She joked, then kissed him softly.

"I've never been called a mosquito before." Albus smiled down at her, with twinkling eyes, that reminded her of stars at dawn. "Did you sleep well my darling ?"

Minerva was silent, unsure how to answer. If she confessed to not sleeping well, then Albus would be sure to question her, to ask why. She didn't want to worry him, or spoil the joy of their first night together after their reconciliation.

Minerva's silence worried Albus, he gazed at her in concern, noticing how rapidly, the joy that had shone in her eyes had faded. "Minerva ? What's wrong? Is it Harry ?" He asked gently.

"Albus, the time, we've overslept. We'll talk about this later." Minerva didn't want to talk about things now. She wanted time to gather her thoughts, to form words to convince Albus to do as she wished. She would be due in class soon, now wasn't the right time to discuss things.

"You are more important than time, Minerva, my darling. I'm sure things will run perfectly well without us." Albus said tenderly, his voice a warm caress.

"Nonsence Albus, you are headmaster, you can't not go to breakfast." She said briskly, and shooed him, still protesting from her rooms, with promises to see him later.

Once Albus had left her rooms, Minerva lifted up the pillow where his head had rested, and, as she expected, found a bag of lemon drops there. She sighed in mild exasperation, the man was obsessed with lemon drops, took the damm things everywhere with him. She'd always checked under the pillow for lemondrops, ever since the time she'd discovered a sticky, week old, bag of fluff covered lemon drops hidden there. Minerva smiled fondly, as she remembered how she'd marched up to Albus's rooms, waved her sticky pillow under his nose, and demanded to know what he was going to do about it. When she had returned to her rooms later, Minerva had found that her normal white linen bedding, had been replaced with emerald green sheets, and pillow cases, patterned all over with tiny embroidered lemon drops. When Albus came to join her that night, he'd had to duck a flying pillow aimed at his head. 'They'd been so happy then. Why did it have to change ?' Minerva wondered sadly.

Author's Notes

Once again many thanks to everyone who reviews, and to everyone who reads this story. Reviews do inspire me, as well as making me smile merrily. ;) So, please review.

Whew, collapses in heap, I've been working on later chapters alot today and I'm very drained now, so I hope this chapter is error free. I'm sure I error checked it a couple of days ago, would have posted it then, but the site wasn't working. I had a panic when I thought I'd lost one of my notebooks with ideas for later chapters in, then I discovered I'd just got muddled up about which notes were where lol.

I think this chapter is shorter than normal, I really just had nothing else to say in it. I hope you like it. Next chapters will probably be longer again. It was originally going to be part of the previous chapter, but I thought it'd make that chapter too long.

Chapter 11 is more of a little side line to the main story, it's in because I love the humourous stuff in it, I hope you will too.

Chapter 12 is back to the main story with a vengance, I'm pleased with the way the chapter is going so far.

I've been working on chapter 17 today, struggling with how to fit everything together, I've reached the point where I can't decide, so I'll leave it alone for a day or too, and clear my mind. I've planned chapters 11 to 19 out, I think in total there will be 25 chapters. I have the next two chapters almost written, the ones after that are just rough notes, panics. I've decided to really work on getting the basis of chapters 11 to 19 written over the next week, then I can perfect them later. I'm hoping reality won't intrude and distract me lol.