Chapter 13 - A Night in Germany
It had been two weeks since Minerva had received her first letter from Albus, saying that he dearly wished to talk to her. She hadn't found the time to reply because Alastor Moody was keeping them on their toes and he had told them that he didn't want personal issues being brought away on their mission. In the last week she had received no less than ten owls from Albus. She had tried to return his letters but found that she didn't know what to write so she had put all thoughts of letters and him to the back of her mind.
"McGonagall! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" shouted Alastor Moody. "Don't tell me that you've left your brain as well as your heart back at home!"
Minerva found herself being tackled to the ground by one of her co-members as a bomb exploded in the next street.
"Thanks Thomas!" she said softly as she recognized the smell of her saviour.
"You okay, sweet pea?" he asked.
Thomas Gray had taken Minerva under his wing when she had first arrived in Germany and he had become a great friend in the little time they had known each other. Minerva nodded and smiled softly as he helped her up and they ran to a nearby bomb shelter. Minerva and Thomas made themselves as comfortable as they could with what they had to sit on.
"So who is the lucky man?" he asked.
"What man?" answered Minerva.
"Come, come Minerva," replied Thomas "I have seen many a girl in love before and you're definitely one of them."
"I made such a fool of myself Thomas," she answered. "I kissed him while he was still grieving!"
"Grieving?" asked Thomas as he rooted around in his pocket and pulled out a bar of Muggle chocolate which he broke in half and gave one half to Minerva.
"He was engaged to this ghastly woman who was cheating on him with his best friend," she began. "The engagement was called off and he came to stay with us. His ex-fiancée and her lover were killed and I kissed him days after the inquest."
"Did he return the kiss?" asked Thomas as he nibbled on his chocolate.
"No," answered Minerva "but then I didn't really give him the chance to."
"That's a good sign!" Thomas told her kindly. "Sweet pea, follow your heart, we get burned sometime and we learn. We can only learn if we try. Answer his owls before you drive him sick with worry."
"I don't know what to write!" she answered.
"Minerva, let your heart do the writing," he told her. "You have the potential to be a great Auror, one of the best even, but you need to sort this out as it's making you not reach your full potential. Now let's head back to the safe house, I could do with a stiff drink."
Minerva nodded and followed Thomas out into the darkness.