A/N- One chapter and an epilogue left, it's bittersweet. And no one shoot me but I think soon, I may be trying a Lord of the Rings Harry Potter crossover. It's kinda stuck in my head.

A/N 2- Thank you for the wonderful reviews, as usual. Happy endings abound, finally. Now, everyone post stories for me to read! And Enjoy!

Chapter 22- That's not what I meant

Dumbledore paced the front hall of the school. It had been nearly twenty four hours since the attack and there hadn't been hide nor hair of either McGonagall or Snape since. It was night once again, classes had been dismissed for the day, and most of the students were avoiding the entry way where their headmaster and Defense against the Dark Arts professor had spent the day in tense worry.

It was ten o'clock now, and Isis had resigned herself to defeat. Head hung, tears tracing paths down her pale cheeks, she'd left the entry way half an hour ago. Dumbledore wasn't about to give up so easily. It was very rare that Minerva got mad at him, but it had happened once or twice in the many years they had been friends, and she always let him sit for a while before she returned to work it out. He knew she needed time to work out what was going on in her head first. But he was determined that she not be able to avoid him. They were going to have it out the moment she stepped through the door. Still, it didn't stop him from worrying about her, out there alone, not even a day after she'd been rescued from Voldemort.

The door creaked open and he watched as she snuck back in. She shut the door and turned to sneak away. "I was at quite a loss for what I said wrong." He spoke softly. But she hadn't noticed him, so she jumped and turned to face him, standing stiffly. "But as I've had the last nearly twenty-four hours to think about it, but I think what happened is that you misunderstood me."

She didn't run as he talked. She stood and listened, although her silence and her impassive face offered no encouragement. He walked slowly toward her, until he was right in front of her. Her eyes were narrow and wary, but she didn't back away.

"I said there were worse things than being bound to you. That is true." He told her. "What I thought went without saying was that I couldn't think of anything better than spending the rest of my life with you." He took a chance and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him.

She choked back a sob and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Why couldn't you have said that in the first place you old goat." She laughed as tears streamed down her cheeks. But these were happy tears and he chuckled as he kissed them away.

He kissed her forehead next, then he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly but there was an undercurrent of passion that had been pent up for far to long and threatened to engulf them.

After a few moments, of a gentle loving kiss, Minerva wound her fingers into the his hair and pulled him deeper into the kiss, opening her mouth and running her tongue along his lower lip to take their kiss to the next level. They pulled away a few moments later, out of breath, but happy.

She opened her eyes and met his with a shy smile. "You know my dearest Minerva, we need to discuss living arrangements." He teased her gently.

She frowned at him. "Albus, just because I'm bound to you for life, doesn't mean I don't want to have a real wedding before we discuss any living arrangements."

This time he laughed outright. "Very well my dear, you shall have your wedding. Simply appoint the day."

"Hmmm. I think I'll decide that later." She murmured before pulling him back down for another kiss.

The clock struck midnight and Isis was still lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. With a depressed sigh, she slipped out from under the covers and wrapped herself in her dark blue dressing gown. She slipped her feet into the matching slippers and left her room. Isis wandered the castle aimlessly, winding up in the dungeons twice where she let out a cry and fled back up the staircases. Eventually at twelve thirty she would up in the North tower. She wandered over to the edge and looked out at the night sky.

"I think I should be very glad I took your threat seriously on Halloween." A voice from the shadows behind her said.

She didn't turn around. "I didn't come up here with the intention to kill myself Severus."

"I believe you. But tell me you weren't considering it while you were staring at the sky."

She turned around, he was right behind her and look in his eyes was downright tender. Her own eyes flashed with hurt. "What do you care? You didn't seem thrilled with the fact that I escaped the Dark Lord's clutches."

He sighed. "I didn't think you understood." He sat on the ledge next to her. "Try to imagine how I felt Isis. I was standing there in agony, listening to what I thought was you screaming as you burned to death. Thinking that it was my fault."

"It wasn't." She protested. She sat next to him and took his hand tightly in hers. "It was Voldemort's fault, and Lucius's. And mine. But it was never your fault."

He stared at her for a moment, but when he continued, it was as if he hadn't heard her. "Then when I was thinking my life was over. There you were, fine. And I felt like I had gone through all this pain, this unnecessary pain, which you could have stopped."

"I'm sorry Severus. I never meant to hurt you." She looked down at her lap, withdrawing her hand from his, as if she felt it had no right to be there.

"I know that." He assured her. He took her face in his hands and lifted it so she was looking him in the eyes. "And I am very, very glad your alive, and okay." He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. His hands slipped from her face and he laced his fingers in hers. "There were so many things I'd realized I'd never told you when I thought you were…." His voiced hitched on the last word.

She took pity on him and slid into his arms. "Shhh…" she whispered soothingly. "You have forever to tell me."