If the days were long, the nights were even longer. Waiting for a silent shadow that never came it's way across the grounds, to home, to her. Minerva sighed deeply, casting longing looks out the window, hoping somehow to see him coming back to Hogwarts, coming back home.

Hogwarts was the only place they had ever dared to call home. Both of their families long since gone, as well as all of their friends. They had never even dared speak of another home. Minerva was glad for this; at least here she could keep her feelings hidden behind stonewalls of granite, hiding herself, encasing her heart in stone.

And yet…

There were those days, those days she could look upon fondly and remember with a smile pressing on her lips. The days when they had no worries, when they could laugh and dance with everyone, whether it be her family of brothers or his of sisters with everyone they held near and dear. Yes, those days she could remember, to be lost in past thoughts and forgotten memories to all else.

Oh what she would give to have those days back! To run free through the hallways with him once more, laughing without a care in the world. They were not used to being restrained, they never had been, and now they were birds locked in stone cages.

They say that opposites attract in the real world, this was no different in Minerva McGonagall's case. She was a Gryffindor; brave and stout of heart, he a Slytherin; cunning in power and stealth.

But who cares for the real world anyways? All she wanted was for him to hold her in his arms once more, whispering sweet little nothings that no one else thought he even had the heart to say.

Always…

Yes, he was always there even if it didn't seem like it. They had been two lost and wandering souls in the darkness who had found each other.

With you…

Those were the words that had been released from his lips the mid-summer night he had knelt before her, ring in hand, their two house colors intertwining in gold and silver. Another memory she had locked up and thrown away the key so that no one would speak of his or her forbidden love. No one could see it, she was glad for that. She would have despised those words the years before the Dark Lord's rise, blatantly rejected that thought.

And now?

And now thoughts were the only thing keeping her going. She glanced once more out the window, all for a lost cause. The ring was still kept firmly upon a silver chain, dangling above her beating heart. It had stayed there for so many long years, so many long years in which she alone knew of wasting tears.

The day the ring that had united them had been placed on the chain was the day after they had finally made their commitment. They had held each other; her hands had felt newfound scars while his had toyed with ebony locks.

Did their vows really mean nothing now? Of course not but things had indeed changed, friends and family killed brutally in the darkness of the night, killings whispers to the quickly moving life of all else.

Maybe that's when things had truly changed. When the Dark Mark had been cast over both of their houses, knowing very well of what they would find inside. Maybe that's when the all to familiar smile had faded and her long hair had finally been confined along with her heart.

Yes, that's when things had changed, all for the worst. Now she had no option but to wait eagerly for her lover, watching as shadows loomed over Hogwarts and rose into daylight. Always the shadows were there, looming over Minerva like some foreboding cloud of what laid ahead.

"Oh Minerva…"

The man muttered softly, looking to the all to frail form leaning against the window.

"Waiting for another ghost I see…"

That's all it seemed like Minerva had waited for anymore. Ghosts of the past, the past that couldn't be changed. Severus sighed and picked up the sleeping form, laying her next to him on the bed, resting her head on a golden pillow.

"Always with you…"

Every light casts a shadow, every being has a counterpart.

Somewhere in the world, it's another day and there is indeed light. That is what keeps people going. Knowing that there is daylight somewhere in this lonely world and that there is always an opportunity for the tomorrows.

Every Light Casts A Shadow By Darkened-Roses