"Why?" Albus Dumbledore asked his deputy headmistress in a pleading tone.
"Albus," Minerva McGonagall began in an uncompromising tone, "we've been over this. I don't love you like that. We have much too good of a friendship anyway. Are you really willing to risk that for a night of passion?"
Albus paused, knowing the answer that she wanted, but unable to give it. "Yes," he stated.
Minerva looked up from the essays she had been grading and glared severely.
Walked right into that one! Albus thought. "I was kidding!" he said, trying to get the woman he loved to change her mind. "Besides, what if it turns into a loving and committed relationship? This could be what we both have always dreamed of!"
"Albus, my answer will always remain the same: No, we cannot, and will not, ever date. I don't love you like that," Minerva explained.
"Just give me one chance!" Albus pleaded.
Minerva clucked her tongue. "You're forgetting one detail, that means the world to me."
"What? Tell me. I'll fix it, anything," Albus said, filling with hope.
"Xiomara Hooch."
Albus looked confused. "You're not…"
"We are."
Albus' eyes widened in shock.
"Why?" Luna Lovegood asked dreamily as she lowered the Quibbler, which she had been reading upside-down because, 'That's the only way to read it, didn't you know that?'
"Because," Ginny Weasley stumbled for words in an exasperated tone, "I like you very much and I was hoping you felt the same way. I thought we would be good for each other." Ginny clearly had thought that asking Luna out wouldn't have required an explanation. How very wrong she was.
"Like shoover-horns and gungerplunkens?" Luna asked.
"Umm…" Ginny faltered. I don't know what those are! Ginny thought. What if I say yes and those aren't things that would date or anything? I'll have to make my point clear another way…
Ginny leaned forward and pulled Luna into a kiss.
"Oh!" Luna laughed. "And I thought you wanted to live in a hole together and scavenge for food!" Ginny laughed then, too.
"Well, let's see if I can I make my point any clearer," Ginny said as she leaned in for another kiss.
"Why?" Pansy Parkinson demanded fiercely. This was a girl who had always gotten what she wanted. She was not happy with the way this conversation was going. She had expected some name-calling in front of their friends, a secret glance and then groping in a broom closet or empty classroom.
"We're not compatible anymore," Hermione Granger answered emotionlessly.
Pansy worked to keep her emotions in check. "What do you mean we're not compatible?"
"Look, let's not make a scene, Pansy," Hermione said, looking around. "I don't love you anymore, Pansy. It's taken me a while to realize I never did."
Despite Hermione's calm tone, Pansy saw tears fill her lover's eyes. "Don't make a scene? Isn't that what we always do?" Pansy joked.
Hermione laughed then abruptly stopped. "Stop trying to act like this isn't happening, Pansy. We're done. We both know it. We've been done. The only thing between us was only ever sex. I can't be in a loveless relationship… I need more."
Pansy was having a harder time controlling her emotions. She felt tears burn her eyes but refused to let them fall. Pansy looked down to give herself time to collect herself. When she looked up, she saw Hermione nodding tearfully.
Both girls collected themselves for what was to come, and then Pansy began walking toward Hermione determinedly. The girls bumped shoulders.
Pansy took a swift intake of breath before turning tow Hermione. "Watch yourself, you filthy little mud blood!" Pansy screeched. Then both girls walked to their separate dormitories.
"Why?" Minerva McGonagall mouthed with tears in her eyes. She wondered if accepting would only bring her more heartache.
"Because, my darling, I was wrong to think I needed space. I missed you, baby. I can't spend another night alone in our big, lonely bed. I want you back, Minnie," Xiomara Hooch answered loudly from her keeling position next to Minerva's seat in the Great Hall. Many of the students had been looking since their flying instructor had gotten down on one knee in front of their transfiguration professor and pulled a small purple box from her cloak.
Minerva shook her head, still crying. "Oh 'Mara," Minerva gasped as she placed her hand to heart.
"I want you to make an honest woman out of me," Xiomara said.
"Of course the answer's yes!" Minerva squealed through her tears. Xiomara bounced into a standing position and engulfed Minerva in a tight, loving embrace. Minerva wrapped her arms around Xiomara's neck as Xiomara continued to hold her tight. Xiomara spun around happily.
The entire Great Hall erupted in thunderous applause. Both women looked around and laughed upon realizing they had an audience.
"I was beginning to think that, after all these years, you would never ask," Minerva whispered into her fiancé's ear.
"When you started crying, I was afraid you were going to say no," Xiomara admitted.
"Why?" Nymphadora Tonks whined as she laid upside-down on the bed.
"Because meeting the parents is the next step," Rosmerta answered as she continued to prepare herself for the large family dinner the two had been preparing so that they could both meet each other's parents and inform both sets of parents of their joyous news: their engagement.
"This was not part of the deal," Tonks complained. "You didn't tell me I would have to dress up! I never would agreed to this part of you party plans."
"I know, darling," Rosmerta said as she finished adjusting her blouse. "That's why I didn't tell you."
Then Rosmerta swept out of the room pausing only to bend over and kiss her lover on the forehead.
"Why?" Molly Weasley growled furiously as she rolled the Daily Prophet in her hands.
"You see, my dear," Arthur Weasley stuttered as his water and bubble-covered wife began advancing on him, "enchanting the sink seemed like a good idea at the time. You would never have to do the dishes again! So, really you should be thanking me. I was reducing your work load."
Molly appeared to calm down considerably. She opened her arms for an embrace and began to walk towards her husband with a broad smile on her face. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, stretched out his arms and began to walk toward her.
"See, Mollywobbles, I knew it would all work out in the end!" Arthur exclaimed happily.
Molly's smile faded. Arthur quickly began to get worried again as the two of them were now a mere foot apart and there was no time to back up.
"Un-enchant it!" Molly screeched after she hit her husband over the head with the Daily Prophet.
"Why?" Remus Lupin wailed as he knelt next to the large black veil that Sirius Black, his lover and best friend, had just fallen through. Remus beat his hands on the floor as he sobbed noisily.
Remus' wailing slowly began to diminish as he held his head in his hands, his body still wracking with sobs.