A/N: Well, this is it: the end. I hope you enjoyed the story and with furthermore find this ending to give justice to the work as a whole.

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It was a while before she noticed him lurking there, up against the wall, waiting for her. She shook her head. She didn't want to talk to him. Pointing toward the stairs, she faced away from him.

"Minerva," he called out to her calmly. "Minerva, stop."

She stopped.

Why? Why wasn't she going? She was perfectly able to, she knew that. Even as her mind reeled, her heart began to beat in time with his footsteps.

"Minerva," he began again. It was then that her temper flared to life once more, "I—"

"What do you want, Severus? What is it?" She spun around to see him. He was stunned. "You keep following me, wanting to 'talk' to me, hoping that I'll agree to your sick little games and.. what? What is it that you're trying to persuade me to do? Are you trying to initiate a sexual relationship, is that it? You just hope that one day I'll get so frustrated that I'll jump you in a fit of passion," she spat. She walked up to him, close enough to touch. "Because, as far as I can tell, Severus, the only one you've been pointing at is me. Not you. You say that I don't want to admit the facts; that I can't help but attempt to ignore what is 'there.' Well, what is there? Can you tell me that? What am I supposed to admit? What is it that I am ignoring? I'll tell you what: nothing. There is nothing there because nothing happened. It was a mistake; and one that I feel truly sorry for making."

Severus stood there, still as stone. His face was an open book: shocked, confused, contemplative, a little scared and very much hurt. She felt the tiniest twinge of guilt but shot it down. This wasn't her fault. He was the one playing games.

Then, just as she had begun to think he was going to walk away, to crawl back into the hole he'd slithered from, he whispered, "I love you." It wasn't a question. It wasn't an explanation. It was a simple statement.

Her mind went blank. What?

"I said 'I love you.'" He repeated.

She'd said that out loud. Mentally cursing herself she stepped back from him, shaking her head.

"No. No, you don't love me," she said just as quietly, "You love Lily."

"Yes. I do love Lily. But I am not talking about Lily right now. She's not here. You are. And, you are the 'you' I was referring to."He stepped toward her.

Following him, as if in some mad dance, she countered his movement. "No. I saw you with her at school all those years ago. That was love. This… this is… I don't know what this is but it's different."

"How?" He asked, moving closer again.

And, again, she countered him. "I don't know! You were kinder, softer to her than others… that is how you love. I know. I saw you with her. Remember, when I was your teacher?"

Severus shook his head, "Don't equate yourself to her, Minerva. You are so different. You are the lioness and she is the doe. You really think I could hope to expect to win you over with mere looks and kind words? You are quite the talented escape artist Professor McGonagall."

"Don't call me that!" she said, putting up her hands in defense, as if they could block out his words. Of course, they could do no such thing. "B-but, you aren't even ever nice to me! All we do is bicker and fight! How is that love?"

"Minerva, fighting with you is the highlight of my day."

"No!" She yelled finally, pushing him back from her. "No! You do NOT get to say that to me!"

Severus looked alarmed. His breath was slightly labored from the surprise attack.

"I am so tired of men like you assuming that simply because you decide you're done making my life a living hell, I'll drop everything and swoon at your feet. Well, newsflash Severus: I've been there. I've fallen for that trick before and you know what? It doesn't work. It doesn't cause a spontaneous 'Happy Ever After' simply because you decide you'd rather fight with me than not speak to me. Why would I want to spend the rest of my time fighting with you? Am I supposed to embrace it because you've ordained it to be some sick, twisted version of love; some kind of glorified romance? I don't think so."

"Minerva, I don't want to—"

"To what? It doesn't matter what you want or do not want because this is not going to happen. I can't do this."

Severus came close to her, placing his hands on either of her shoulders. His touch was gentle but not without purpose. She knew the minute she attempted to physically lash out at him again, the grip would become iron-clad. "Minerva, you keep saying that you can't do this or you can't do that. But, what is it that you want to do?"

Tears welled up in her eyes. She shook her head. She wanted to speak but no words came; only more tears. Finally, her constricted throat yielded broken words, "I can't… Lily…"

"Look, I never told Lily how I felt about her. I think she knew deep down but I never said it. That fact has tortured me for a long, long time. I am not about to make that mistake again. I love you. I do. I know, I've thought about it for a long time. So, Minerva, tell me. Please. What do you want? "

"I'm not… I… no." She sobbed, fleeing from the scene.

Severus stood, staring after her for several minutes before shaking his head in bitter humor and heading back into the library.

XXXXX

"Back again, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

She jumped her already shaky limbs rigid with shock. "Albus, what are—"

"Have you ever wondered why it is that you fear pain from him?" Albus went on, ignoring her unformed question. As he spoke, he fiddled absentmindedly with a feline-shaped ornament on her desk. The trouble was, as she fully knew, Albus was never absentminded. "You are so afraid that he will hurt you; that he will abandon and leave you at your most vulnerable moment. It's ironic, isn't it?"

Minerva's face exhausted as she was, scrunched up in confusion, "What's ironic?"

"That you don't want him to leave when it is you, Minerva, that is doing the running."

"I… that's different!" she protested hotly.

"Is it though?" Albus asked. He looked up at her. Though his voice remained light, his eyes flashed dangerously. "He admitted a personal secret to you. He trusted you. And you, what did you do? You left him standing there, waiting and hoping for a reply of the same kind. It seems to me that you're the one doing the hurting."

"But… But, I can't be with him! I can't! I can't risk another—"

"Risk is the thing that makes a life a life." He said sternly, standing up from her chair. "It empowers us to win, to fail, and to try again. Without risk life means nothing." He looked deep into her eyes again, his voice lightening up once more, "Take a risk, Minerva. Just this once, take this risk. For the real risk is going into battle knowing full well what to expect. That is risk. That is bravery." As he began to leave the room, Albus called back to her, joking, "Are you a Gryffindor or aren't you?"

Minerva lingered in the room for only a few seconds before her decision was clear.

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Severus was in the library, sitting at a table. It was painful obvious to him that he'd just managed to make a complete ass of himself in less than ten minutes. Looking around him, he watched the students come and go between the stacks and stacks of books. He never spent much time there having preferred to occupy the library during the less crowded moments of the day. It was odd to look out and realize that some of the sorry excuses for wizards and witches were there looking up facts to allow them to complete the ungenerously large essay he'd just assigned them.

He had just gotten up to leave the library, he'd felt awkward and preferred not having students look at him. Once one miniscule first year started walking over—no doubt looking for help—he had been more than ready to leave.

It was in the corridor outside the library that he spotted her hurrying back towards him. He tensed, expecting some sort of unprovoked act of violence.

So it was all the more to his surprise when her body stopped before him, spluttering apologies and admissions of her previously denied feelings. He held up a hand to her lips, stopping her words. Then, silently, he held her close, embracing her tightly. It was a physical declaration of a sort that reassured her of her decision.

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Harry, Hermione and Ron rounded the corner of the corridor, heading to the library.

"Hermione," Ron whined, "Please! It's just two more inches. Only two! It's due tomorrow."

"Then you should have started it earlier."

"Hermione, c'mon. You wouldn't do that to me. You wouldn't want that on your conscious."

Hermione opened her mouth to shoot back a retort when Harry grabbed the both of them by the sleeves of their robes. He stopped, stock-still mid hallway.

Ron and Hermione wondered aloud at the disturbance before seeing the sight themselves.

Hermione gaped as Professor Snape—their Professor—kissed Professor McGonagall lightly on the top of her head. Slowly, the two left the corridor, heading in the opposite direction. The trio's eyes followed them round the corner—each member wearing identical looks of bewilderment.

"Chuck it over, mate!" cried Ron gleefully having won his bet.

"Oh for goodness sakes, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione said exasperatedly as she walked ahead into the library.

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A/N 2: Aaaannnd, we're done! Huzzah! Second story finished within Three Days! Anyway, I'm now free to start on other Harry Potter pieces such as a prequel to this piece explaining Minerva's relationship fears and a sequel to After Thoughts. Review!