Part Four
"This place is gorgeous!" Minerva cried, throwing down her bag and falling backwards onto the sofa. Serverus and herself had just arrived at the sea side cottage leant to them for the weekend whilst they supposedly patched up their professional relationship. She felt a little bad about taking advantage of Dumbledore's offer, but smirked at the thought that they had successfully managed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes, in making them think that their professional relationship was in ruins. Not that there wasn't room for improvement, far from it, but they'd definitely been getting on a lot better as of late then they ever had done before.
"You look like the cat that's got the cream," Serverus observed wryly, setting his bag down in the doorway.
"No I don't," she giggled. "But I could do!" She pulled out her wand from the front of her robes, pointed it at herself and muttered a few words under her breath. With a bang, she transformed into a small tabby cat and padded through into the kitchen. Stood in the living room, Serverus counted under his breath.
"Five, four, three, two, one-" a loud miow came from the kitchen. "You want me to open the fridge for you?"
Back at Hogwarts, harry was beginning to dearly wish he knew how to keep his mouth shut. Hermione had been pestering him none-stop for the past two days to tell her what he knew about McGonagall and Snape. He had told her that he had meant nothing by the frivolous comment he had made when they had overheard Dumbledore advise the two of them to spend the weekend at his holiday home in Cornwall to improve their professional relationship, but she wouldn't believe him. He had merely commented that 'something told him they were going to do a fair site more than reconcile this weekend' and of course, Hermione had jumped to the right conclusion.
"Come on Harry, tell me what you know!" she cried, jumping out infront of him and startling him.
"There's nothing to know!" harry exclaimed. "I've told you, all I meant was, they've always hated each other and that's not about to change, so I reckon their gonna milk this weekend for all it's worth!"
"I don't believe you Harry potter, and sooner or later, I'm gonna find out the truth!" she warned good-naturedly as she hurried off down the corridor.
Meanwhile, in Cornwall at the exact same time, Minerva McGonagall (who had stopped being a cat for long enough to explore the cottage) had just made a startling discovery. Stood in the doorframe of the living room, she announced:
"There's only one bedroom." Serverus merely glanced up from reading a muggle newspaper, and blinked.
"So?" She put her hands on her hips, pursed her lips, tilted her head to one side, and gave him a very disdainful look.
"So I hope you'll find the couch very comfortable."
"What? You can't make me sleep on the couch!" he exclaimed.
"I think you'll find I can you know," she giggled at his annoyed look.
"Min, you know how this is meant to be a sex based relationship?" he asked
"Yeees………" she answered cautiously.
"Oh come on," she rolled her eyes, settling herself down in his lap. "Just……….humour me for a while, okay? Not yet. But I promise you, it'll definitely be worth the wait." She grinned coyly, and before he had time to argue, she pulled him down on top of herself.
Hermione was starting to get annoyed.
"Oh Harry, please just tell me!" she cried, for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
"I've already told you, there's nothing to tell, maybe you should try listening," Harry growled darkly. He wasn't annoyed, he was positively murderous.
"Please harry? I'm not exactly going to say anything am I? I mean, McGonagall and Snape-eugh!" she shuddered. She then sighed. "Don't you trust me Harry? That hit home. If Harry said yes, she'd force him to tell her the truth. Yet if he said no, she'd be majorly pissed. 'And if you keep quiet much longer', Harry thought to himself, 'she's going to take it as a no and slap you!'
"But I promised McGonagall I wouldn't tell!" he exclaimed. And recoiled in horror as he realised what he had done.
Later that night, the storm clouds that had been holding on all day finally opened over Cornwall. Rain poured down and lightning continually lit up the sky. Tossing and turning on the couch, trying to get comfortable, Snape heard footsteps padding downstairs. Reaching for his wand, he muttered:
"Luminous!" and a beam of light swept across the room. Stood in the doorway, Minerva was wearing a flannel nightdress and looked distinctly embarrassed.
"Can I sleep down here?" she asked, in a pitiful voice. "I'm sort of……..afraid of lightning." She said the last sentence really quickly, under her breath. Serverus rolled his eyes and laughed (or made a noise that resembled a laugh.)
"Climb in," he beckoned, pulling back the covers. "My baby sister used to be afraid of lightning." Minerva paused.
"You have a baby sister?"
It was well passed lights out at Hogwarts, but Harry and Hermione were sat talking in whispers in the Gryfindor common room. Harry knew there was no use denying the truth any more, and since everyone else was in bed, he felt brave enough to whisper:
"You were right Herm-about McGonagall and Snape. They're together."
"Ewww!" she cried as he shushed her. "I mean, I knew it, but hearing you say it, ewww!"
"Listen, you can't tell anyone!" Harry insisted. Hermione took a deep breath.
"I wont," she promised sincerely. "I wont."