A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter today (long ones will make their return, I promise). Thank you all for reading!
For the disclaimer, please see the prologue.
Chapter Thirty-One: July 1945
"How was your day, my dear?" Albus asked Minerva as she entered her flat. He closed his book and beckoned her towards him. "Come, sit, and have a cup of tea with me. I've missed you."
"It was an amazing day," Minerva sighed happily, throwing herself down on the couch beside him. She had just finished the second week of her mastery, and she was enjoying it immensely. Life was going very well for her after arriving home from the war: the Minister had awarded her an Order of Merlin, Second Class, and the large number of galleons attached had given her the freedom to rent a lovely apartment in London. It was close to both her school and the Ministry, where the Minister had allowed her to continue to working in the Auror office. Given that it was the summer holidays at Hogwarts, Albus had travelled to London to visit her as she settled into her new routine.
"What did you learn today?" He placed his tea on her coffee table and pulled her closer, rubbing her legs. "Anything new and exciting?"
"Albus, everything is new and exciting," she grinned. "Professor Shacklebolt discussed the limitations of conjuration, and then she had us try to explore how to defy those limitations. It's so much more in-depth than your NEWT class."
"I should hope so," he laughed, "seeing as you're going to be a master at the end of it all. Although, I hope it wasn't my teaching that was inferior."
"Surely not! But if I discover any gaps, then I can come back and replace you with my superior knowledge base," Minerva teased. She paused, thinking for a moment about their relationship. "It will be so odd to be back at Hogwarts when I come to see you, now that I'm not a student anymore. Perhaps I will spend time with Lavinia while you're teaching so I can stay out of everyone's way." His hands momentarily paused their ministrations on her legs, and she reached forward to take them in hers, frowning. "Albus?"
"We should have a conversation," Albus began hesitantly, "about what happens in the fall."
"What do you mean?" Minerva questioned warily, flopping back against the couch. "Won't things be the same?"
"Well, I'll be back at Hogwarts teaching full-time, so I won't be able to come and go as I please to come and visit you, no matter how much I want to. And we don't yet know the full extent of our bond."
"Albus," she sighed, "we talked with the Flamels. We know as much as we're likely to ever know. I highly doubt that we can create and act out every potential scenario to see how our bodies react. I don't mean to try, either," Minerva added upon seeing Albus' eyes light up.
Their talk with the Flamels hadn't been so much illuminating as it was infuriating. Albus had been excited to speak to his friends about their situation, and Minerva suspected that he was excited to have something so rare in common with the infamous couple. Both Pernelle and Nicholas were very kind, but they had provided few answers. Albus and Nicholas had decided to embark on another alchemy project together; they hoped they could find the chemical equation that created soul-bonds. Minerva was decidedly less pleased with this turn of events as she wanted their bond to remain private, not be made an example of in an experiment. She approved of knowledge and scholarship, but Minerva preferred it when her personal life was not the subject of such pursuits. It remained a sore subject between them, and Minerva didn't like the constant reminder that their relationship seemed to be a casualty of Albus' thirst for knowledge.
"Well then, my dear," Albus commented, attempting to steer them to a safer subject, "what do you suggest we do? As much as Lavinia likes your company, sometimes the Hospital Wing can be rather busy."
"I suggest you come down here on your weekends off. Not every weekend, of course; I know you have supervision and various duties. But if there's a weekend when you can sneak away, I think you should come down here. And, on my week-long moratoriums, I can come to Hogwarts to visit you."
"I can hardly bring you to Hogwarts as a romantic liaison, Minerva. You're barely a year out of school."
Her eyes narrowed. "Why, exactly? You told me that we could be open once the war was over."
"Yes, but things have changed."
"Your level of notoriety?" She heard the bitterness in her voice and did nothing to tamper it.
"That," Albus conceded slowly, "but I have recognized a flaw in our plan, as it were. My dear, your brother can't even look me in the eye. Callum despises me."
"Surely you can understand that an older brother is protective of his younger sister."
"You know I can, Minerva," Albus said sharply. "That's a bit heavy-handed."
She immediately realized her misstep. "I am sorry, Albus. I didn't mean it the way it came out."
He sighed heavily and shook his head free of his ghosts. "I know. All I meant is that if your brother —someone who loves you as much as he does— can't support us, I don't see there being much hope for the rest of the world. At least, not right away."
"It's not like I want to tell the rest of the world, Albus! We're both private people, and I want to keep our relationship private, as well. I simply want to be honest with my friends and my family. I want to go to our weekly dinners at Lucy and Cal's and be able to have you there as my partner, not as our friend. I want to be able to shrug off the boys in my courses when they ask me to dinner, and I want to be able to tell them that I am off the market!"
"Boys are asking you to dinner?" Albus asked, his brow furrowing. A seed of jealousy threatened to bloom in his stomach and he did his best to tamper it lest Minerva feel it, too.
"One," Minerva corrected quickly. Technically, it had been a guest lecturer from another university, but she had told him she wasn't comfortable consorting with her professors outside of school.
She felt very untruthful as of late.
"I can't say I like the sound of that." Albus pursed his lips in distaste. "In any event, I believe we act like Lavinia and Armando. I'm not saying that we keep it as quiet as they do forever, but in the short term, it may be a good plan. This way, my friends and the Hogwarts staff will look at you less like a student, and your friends and family will look at me less like your professor."
"What do you suggest then, Albus? Where do we go when I have weeks off? I'd much rather spend them with you than sit here and dawdle alone."
"My brother," Albus began, "recently purchased an establishment in Hogsmeade. It's not somewhere that I'd normally like you to go alone, but he would certainly lend me a room there for a week if I asked. We don't get along particularly well, but after I almost died in the war, we've tried to mend fences. This was his olive branch." He nudged her slightly and smiled, remembering a long-ago conversation. "Besides, being in the village would make it very easy for me to pop over to Hogwarts during the day, and I'd be easily findable if an emergency were to arise."
"So as a compromise, I may get to meet your brother?" Minerva arched an eyebrow. She wasn't completely happy, but she'd rather do anything else than spend their sparse time together fighting. "My, my, my, we have come a long way."
He rolled his eyes and kissed her.
A week later, Minerva was visiting Lucy, Iolanthe and Callum at their flat. Aidan had decided to tag along, as he usually did. Aidan and Callum were still as thick as thieves, working together in the Auror office. They often complained that Minerva's administrative role meant she kept too close of an eye on them. The group were talking amongst themselves, watching Iolanthe play with her toys, when Aidan made a rather abrupt declaration.
"If it's all right with all of you, I'll be bringing my new girlfriend to dinner next week," Aidan announced. The trio stared at him, shocked. Aidan had not mentioned dating anyone since Charlotte had passed away.
"Well, that's news!" Callum clapped Aidan on the back. "Any friend of yours is welcome here, whenever. You know that."
"Since when have you been seeing someone?" Minerva questioned him. "You haven't told us anything!"
"What, are you jealous, Min?" Lucy teased gently.
"Nah, Minnie isn't jealous," Callum laughed. "She has a secret boyfriend of her own."
"Another one?" Aidan asked, bewildered.
"I'm merely protective of you," Minerva ignored them, rolling her eyes. "Who is this girl?"
"Aidan," Callum said, ignoring his sister in turn, "who the hell was Minnie's secret boyfriend? When was this?
Minerva knew precisely what her brother was getting at. "Callum, it's not what you're thinking."
"What am I thinking, pray tell?" Callum's eyes hardened. The tension between the siblings sizzled in the air.
"What would he be thinking?" Lucy asked Aidan, confused.
"I don't know," Aidan shrugged.
"Minnie, who was your secret boyfriend?"
"No one you know!"
"Why don't I believe you?"
Lucy and Aidan looked at each other. Then, not wanting to witness a blow-up, Aidan yelled, "It's Scarlet Weasley! I'm seeing Scarlet Weasley!"
Neither sibling blinked.
"Perhaps we should go, Aidan. Want to come and see Iolanthe's new toy? My grandmother bought it for her. You can tell me all about Scarlet," Lucy said hesitantly, standing.
"Yeah, let's go," Aidan swallowed, following her out of the room.
After they left, Minerva broke the détente first. "Cal, I know what you're thinking."
"Do you?" His voice rose three octaves. "I'm thinking that my sister's relationship with her secret boyfriend started much earlier than it should have. I have half a mind to arrest him!"
Minerva rolled her eyes and warded the room with a silencing spell. "Merlin, Callum. You can't arrest anyone without any proof. Besides, you're only half-right. I didn't actually have a secret boyfriend. It was a cover I used."
"For what?"
"To see Albus."
"Jesus, Minerva, really? Why would you need a cover to see your professor?"
"Because," she spat, "he was giving me extra lessons!" Minerva closed her eyes and transformed into her animagus form. She meowed happily at the flabbergasted look on her brother's face. When she transformed back, she had a smirk on her face. "Do you get it now, Cal? We had to keep this a secret, and Augusta just assumed I was running off to meet a secret boyfriend. I figured that was a better cover than anything else I could have invented, so I stuck with it."
"Ah, well," Callum stammered, entirely at a loss for words. "I suppose that makes sense."
"I'm glad you approve," Minerva replied drily. "Anyways, I had to tell you sooner or later. I'll officially be on the Ministry's registry soon enough."
"You mean you weren't before?"
"No," Minerva said with finality, unwilling to explain her complicated relationship with the Minister. "Is your curiosity satiated now? Will you stop looking for reasons to hate Albus?"
"I'm not looking for reasons to hate Albus, Minnie." Callum rolled his eyes. "I just hope you understand how...odd it is for you to date our professor. Our old professor."
"Why is this so hard for you to understand?" Minerva asked softly. She desperately wanted him to accept this, even if only so Albus would feel more at ease moving forward. "Don't you want me to be happy?"
"Of course I do!" Callum yelled in frustration. "But it's a bit weird when you stumble upon your younger sister snuggled up naked next to her old professor —the one she met when she was eleven— instead of literally anyone else. It's not like you have a history of dating older men, either. Albus is a hell of a lot older than Michael. He's closer to Da's age!"
Her eyes flashed angrily at the comparisons. "Callum, I'm going to tell you this once more, and then I never want to have this conversation again. I understand he's older and that he was our professor, but I love him. I love him dearly and with all of my soul in ways that you couldn't possibly begin to understand. Our relationship isn't easy, but it is ours. Nothing improper happened when I was his student. He is brilliant and kind and would never hurt me, certainly not least in the way that you continue to insinuate. Leave it alone. If anything ever does happen, I'll let you have your fun then. Understood?"
Callum sighed deeply, his shoulders sagging. "I understand, Minnie. I do. And I truly want to believe the best of the situation, but this is a lot to take in."
"I understand, but you are my brother, and I need your support. Not your disdain," Minerva added. "I love you, Callum, but my relationship is not up for debate."
"Fine." He pursed his lips. "Shall we get the others?"
"I'll send Aidan back, but I want to spend some time with my girls alone." Minerva smiled softly. She stood and moved to the door, hesitating when she reached her brother. "Thank you, Cal," she whispered, kissing him on the cheek.
Minerva walked over to the nursery door, knocking gently before opening it. She grinned at the sight of Iolanthe playing with a stuffed hippogriff, happily muttering to herself. "What do we have here?"
"Safety from the war zone," Aidan retorted. "Is it safe to go back? Is Callum still alive?"
"Aidan," Minerva warned lowly. She hated it when he made those sorts of jokes, particularly so soon after the end of the war. "Yes, it is. Why don't you go and keep my wayward brother company?"
"I feel like you'll kick me out of here regardless," Aidan sighed, standing up. "He had better be in a decent mood, Min."
Minerva waited until he was gone before she cast a silencing spell over the room, sitting down wearily beside Lucy as she did so.
"Now, are you going to tell me who this secret boyfriend is?" Lucy asked, rubbing Minerva's arm soothingly.
"You mean...?"
"No, Callum didn't tell me." Lucy shook her head. "He didn't think it was his business to tell. He said you'd tell us all when you were ready."
"That was kind of him, considering how he found out."
"Now that I heard," Lucy laughed, smirking as Minerva's face turned red. "If my brother had discovered me in that kind of position, I would have been so embarrassed."
"It wasn't my finest moment." Minerva bit her lip and looked away from Lucy's knowing eyes.
"There's no need to be so ashamed, Min." Lucy softened her voice. "It's a part of life. Yes, it's embarrassing, but there are worse things."
"I know, but it's Callum, and, well, we're not ready to be public at the moment."
"You both aren't, or he isn't?" Her sister-in-law had a shrewd look on her face.
"Am I really that transparent?" Minerva smiled weakly.
"The more important question is, Min," Lucy cupped her cheek gently, "does he make you happy?"
"I think he really could," Minerva whispered. "I don't think I could be unhappy with him. On the contrary, I think I'd be unhappier without him. Although, having said that, I'm not as happy as I could be at the moment."
"Have you told him any of this?"
"Not exactly, no," Minerva admitted. "I told him I wanted to be open, at least with those dear to us. I understand his qualms, but I don't know how to tell him that while I understand them, I am also hurt by them. I'm not sure he'd understand that duality. He is prone to secrets and worrying, which doesn't bode well for our current situation."
"Don't you owe it to him to let him try to understand? Min, I've never seen you so conflicted."
"I'm simply tired of everything," she sighed. It was something she would admit to no one but Lucy. Lucy, who was her sister in all but blood, who had seen her grow up and who had taken her under her wing when she had no other female to turn to. "I'm fearful that while we love each other, love won't be enough. I'm not quite content to be subsumed by his shadow."
"Who is this man that has such a presence?" Lucy wondered. "You're making me curious!"
"I promise I'll tell you." Minerva lay her head on Lucy's shoulder. "Whenever he lets me."
"Min, you shouldn't need your boyfriend to let you do anything," Lucy warned. "I don't care if he is the king of England; you are wonderful and independent and strong. Do not lose yourself in him."
"There's not much of a choice," Minerva said softly. "Not when it's between losing myself in him and losing him altogether."