A/N: Okay, I admit it – I am mad like hell. My damn school. I've been writing my a** off the last week to get my term paper done and when I go to turn it in today, the professor will be on vacation until April 17th and the secretary until March 24th. And no fill-in. So for that Major, nobody is there for about 3 weeks. The secretary's salary is 4 times of mine and she is working only 14 hours a week. I'm in a students job and work more than 20 hours a week. Can somebody explain to me, for what they are getting their money?

To all reviewers of Chapter 2 (which now has a title – yay, I finally could make up my mind) – thanks for giving me a perma-grin. Since you all were asking, I give you the answer…..nah, not here. You have to read this chapter to find out. Oh, and review too. In case, you wonder about the title of this chapter, it is a song out of "Hello Dolly", performed by Barbra Streisand.

To Minerva of Tortall: Thanks for your suggestion. So far I went with ff.net's pre-selected settings, but changed it now.

To Xela: Where is that line from? It sounds a bit like the beginning of a Round Robin I have in mind.

Disclaimer as usual.

Anyway, this one is for my Mama, for her marvellous back and face massages and for the fact that she doesn't have one ounce of understanding for fandom, but still immediately jumps on my train of thoughts and came up with even more ridiculous ideas than I could ever think of. Mama, you're a nutcake – but you're the bomb.

Chapter 3: "Love is only love"

"Albus…" Minerva delightedly cried as she flew across the room directly into his embrace. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. He wrapped his arms around her and responded to her kiss with equal passion.

They kissed for an eternity, until finally Arabella asked Alastor Moody, who had entered the Inn with Albus, "Shouldn't they come up for air sometimes?"

Alastor shot back "With those two? Who knows."

"You can only kiss that long. Once they have to breathe again.", someone from the back of the room chimed in.

The rustling of conversation, which had filled the room had faded into a tense silence. People gathered around to watch the display, torn between fascination and embarrassment at the scene unfolding. And more than one was anxious to see, how the other man – Uray – would react. 

"Is it only me, or is it getting warmer in here?" Luc, their contact from Metz, asked. A few others nodded in agreement. Somebody even started whistling.

Moody went over to a dumbfound Uray, poked him in the ribs and grinned slyly. "Maybe they should get a room?"

Uray didn't answer. He was too shocked to say anything.

Finally, Albus and Minerva slowly tapered off their kiss – if only to catch a much needed breath, but kept their tight embrace. They seemed oblivious to the surroundings as they basked in each others presence.

"What the hell is going on here?" Uray demanded. "Minerva, Albus, would you mind explaining, what you are doing?"

The couple snapped out of it's reverie and turned to the rather angry man. Minerva couldn't help but grin "What do you think, we are doing? I thought, it was rather obvious."

Uray only glared at her. He turned to the man beside her "Albus, I demand that you tell me, what for Merlin's sake, you are doing with my little sister! And in public!"

Dumbledore cringed inwardly at the tone in the other man's voice. 'That certainly didn't go well. Brace yourself, Dumbledore, McGonagall-temper is at  work, again.'. Outwardly he answered calmly with a hint of amusement. "As Min said, my friend. I thought, it is obvious. I am kissing her. And well, yes, in public. We are engaged after all."

Uray's eyes grew wide. "Engaged?" he sputtered, "As in to be married?"

"At least, that was what it meant last time I checked." Arabella interrupted, sensing the fast rising tension between the three. "Would you mind finishing this conversation outside, so that we can get the actual meeting underway?" She nodded to the young fighter next to her and both shoved the three out of the door into the back-garden. 

Then she turned towards the crowd of witches and wizards calling them to their seats and starting to share the information they had collected for their next actions.

While sliding into her seat she heard Alastor Moody mutter "Thank God, I kept my hands of those girls. That family could make even the most ardent lover decide to enter a convent."

Arabella grinned and whispered back: "The joys of love and family…"

Moody only snorted.

****

Outside the atmosphere between the three people was even frostier than the air. Uray stood straight with his shoulders squared and his arms crossed. His features clearly showed anger, although his voice betrayed that "Would you now be so kind and tell me, what is going on?"

Albus was about to speak, but was stopped by Minerva's hand on his arm. "It's is actually quite simple, Uray. We fell in love and since we want to spend the rest of our lives together, we decided to get married soon." She said approaching her brother with a smile. "You have been in love before. I'm sure, you know what it is like.", Minerva added tenderly stroking his cheek.

Uray regarded her for a moment with small smile, but suddenly turned away from her and started pacing. "Yes. Yes, I know, how it feels to be in love. But Min, you are so young and he is…well, he is…"

"So much older?"

"Thanks Albus. Yes, so much older than you Min. You have all your life ahead of you and…" Uray run a hand through his hair, trying to form the proper words.

Minerva and Albus grinned at each other. If they could win over Uray, sooner or later the McGonagall-Clan would follow. They shared a look that said: 'Keep trying!'

Finally, Minerva took the task to make their point clear: "Uranos Kazachok McGonagall, you know as well as I do that you can't choose, for whom you fall. Your heart makes that decision. And my heart decided for Albus… a very long time ago. You say that you want to see me happy and my happiness is with him. As long I have Albus, I can't be anything else than happy."

Uray swallowed. He knew his sister's determination. She had always gotten her way and she had apparently set her mind to this. But there was one more thing.

"A very long time ago? Since when is that going on with you two?" He stared at Albus, clearly marking his intent to get a truthful, but better satisfying answer.

Dumbledore almost laughed out loud as he saw the young man doing exactly, what his father and four brothers had done ten months earlier. That look clearly said: 'You better did not even dream of touching her before she graduated!' He also knew, he couldn't be entirely truthful, but since Uray had only asked about the beginning of their actual romantic and physical relationship, he could give him the expected response. "I can absolutely assure you, my friend, that we never engaged in anything inappropriate as long as Minerva was my student. And we also did not start our relationship over her Graduation certificate."

Minerva chuckled at that as she stepped between the two men. "I am not giving you the exact date, my dear brother, but the last two years have been the happiest in my life." She smiled as she settled back on her fiancé's chest. Dumbledore smiled too and wrapped his arms around her.

The young wizard regarded the couple in front of him. They certainly looked happy and in love, but still. His Princess-sister and Dumbledore? Powerful and famous wizard or not, he was still many years her senior AND her former teacher. The gossip-people would have a field-day, if that relationship became public knowledge. Not only Min and Albus would be in the spotlight, but the whole clan too.

"What did Mama and Pap say?"

The glimmer of hope in Minerva's eyes was immediately quenched. "They didn't like the news." Came her somewhat chocked answer. "Neither did Sym or the boys. We didn't exactly part on speaking terms."

Albus, sensing her sadness, pulled her even closer to him. "We actually hoped that you might help us to straighten this out…," he told the other man.

Uray turned his back to them and let out a deep breath. He didn't like that. He didn't like that at all. He was not even sure, what he thought of this…, this love match, but to sell it to his parents? He couldn't believe it. Again, he yanked his hands through his hair. Then he turned around. "I don't know, what I shall think of all this. I am not happy about it. Let me finish, Minerva," he stopped his sister, who was about to interrupt him. "I don't know yet, if I can or even want to accept your relationship, so don't ask me to talk Mama and Pap into it. I don't know, if I should be happy for you or kill Albus for ever daring to touch you. I just don't know…"

With that he stalked towards the entrance of the Banquet-room and nearly ran into another young wizard. Andrew Potter easily avoided collision and announced: "If you don't mind joining the discussion now, Arabella wants you to give your input. She also said – and I quote: 'They can play out their drama later on.'"

The others couldn't help but smile at Arabella's frankness and followed inside.