"Minerva!" Dumbledore exclaimed, quietly. "I was hoping you'd come." He kissed her lips softly. She smiled. He undid the top buttons of the dress she wore under her robes and slid his hand under her collar, running his fingertips over her bare shoulder. "I trust that there were no problems?" he asked, pulling her close to him with his other hand. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

"I ran into Mr. Potter and his friends as I passed Gryffindor Tower," she replied, running her fingers through a white streak in his once fiery hair. The Headmaster rolled his eyes.

"I thought we had finally discouraged them from searching for Remus Lupin when he leaves." He reached up and pulled out the pin that secured her bun, and threw it on the floor next to her hat and outer robes, letting her dark brown hair fall down her back. There was a touch of gray at her temples. He wasn't sure she noticed, and wasn't about to point it out. She turned, both to look out the window, and to let the top Albus had finished unbuttoning fall to her waist.

"Is it a full moon?" she asked, blowing out the candle next to her to get a better view. "If I had seen that, I would have taken far more than fifteen points from them." Albus's lips made their way down from her neck. He stopped and stood to look her in the eye. "They told me they were only sending an owl."

"In the middle of the night?" he asked. She pushed his robes off of his shoulders; they puddled on the floor. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Sirius said that James wanted to know what Lily wants for Christmas." She leaned closer to him and their mouths met, longer this time.

"Are they an item now?" Albus asked, running his hands down her back and freeing her legs from her skirt. She stepped out of it.

"Since their fourth year." Minerva laughed, "What's been on your mind for the last two years?" she writhed still closer to him. "Even Kettleburn picked up on that, and he's lost three fingers since then." Albus laughed and kissed her again.

"Speaking of preoccupied, who only took off fifteen points when she caught sixth-years sneaking around after midnight?" He chuckled, "I wouldn't be surprised if you blew the whistle on this right then. Someone will get curious when word gets out that Professor McGonnagal only took five points apiece from them." Minerva tried to glare at him, but it was punctuated by a shiver, making her lover laugh. "Cold are we?" he asked, a devilish gleam in his eye. He guided her towards the deep four-poster bed. "We'll just have to fix that."

Potter and his friends were forgotten for quite a while.

**(*)**