NEVER BEEN KISSED Ch

NEVER BEEN KISSED Ch. 13 - Epilogue

Author: Catherine E. Grant

Author's note: For the purposes of this story, Minerva is five years older than Remus. Yes, I know that doesn't fit in with the novels, but this is MY story and they can be as old (or as young) as I want them to be! So there. I don't particularly like part one of this, so I'm going to try and improve it as I go along. For those of you who were wondering, this started as a challenge from a friend who wanted me to do something with McGonagall & Lupin up a tree. She's somewhat disappointed with me now.

Timeline: Takes place in Harry & company's sixth year. Lupin has been invited back on the proviso that he drink the Wolfsbane potion because they can't find another good DADA professor and because Dumbledore wants him there to look out for Harry.

Romance: This is the epilogue! There aren't any couples here that weren't already evident.

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine unless I expressly state that they are.

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They buried him in Hogsmeade, a nice simple ceremony. All the surviving teachers attended, as did a handful of students. Professors Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin were conspicuous by holding hands, even when the shutter of Rita Skeeter's camera clicked down.

Dumbledore remained inscrutable, and all he would say about Snape's death was that he died fighting a greater evil. The evil was left up to the mind of the listener, and it was no fault of Dumbledore's if most of his listeners assumed it was Lord Voldemort. And if someone might have let it slip that he died under an Unforgivable, well, no one admitted that he'd cast it on himself.

Minerva stood quietly by the head of Snape's coffin as it was lowered into the ground. "Want to talk?" Remus asked her quietly. She shrugged. "Yes. No. I don't know. Somehow I still feel guilty."
"Careful," he warned, looking at the people around them.

She lowered her voice. "It's my fault he died, because if he hadn't been in love with me…"
"You never knew," he soothed her gently.

"It doesn't matter." She shook her head.

"Hey," Hermione Granger greeted them. Both professors smiled at the sight of the eager student. Though it was a funeral, and everyone not unhappy at least tried to assume an air of mourning, Hermione was bursting with energy. "I guess you worked out what was wrong," she said warmly. "No hard feelings anywhere? Everything resolved nicely? Can I come to the wedding?"
"Yes, thank you, of course you can," Remus answered for both of them, before turning to Minerva. "Just how much did you tell her, Min?"
She grinned. "I told her everything about me hurting you and feeling guilty, and you thinking that I hated you." He accepted her unspoken warning.

Hermione smiled. "Yes, and you intimated that you thought something else was bothering Professor Lupin. I worked out the bits about Snape manipulating you and sending the flowers and the notes and all that by myself."

Minerva nearly choked and exchanged a horrified look with Remus. "What the-" she spluttered helplessly. Remus gently put an arm around her.

"Hermione, how the…when… I'm not sure I quite want to know," he said.

The girl rolled her eyes, shook out her bushy hair. "Really, Professor," she scoffed. "What do you think Harry has an invisibility cloak for anyways?"

In the silence that followed, she added, "I told you I'd find out what was happening. And I did, didn't I?"

They could only nod.

On the other side of the coffin, Dumbledore smiled, and shook his head. Some day, maybe, they'd all learn that it was harder to keep things from him than they thought.

He knew, for instance, about the delivery of roses to Minerva's bedroom. But he wouldn't say a word, as usual.