Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, things, and ideas (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings. Mordecai, Elisabeth, and Horatio Carstairs are mine.
Chapter 33: Reckonings and resolutions.
Mordecai stiffened, wondering what Severus would say. Elisabeth's mouth went dry with worry. However, unknown to Carstairs as well as everyone else, Severus had actually been trying to fight the effects of the Veritaserum. Minerva's having questioned him first had also helped because the potion did not last very long.
Managing to get a final control over the potion, Severus commented in his own voice, "Wouldn't… you like… to know."
Carstairs was not ready to concede defeat and repeated the question. To this Severus smiled wryly. "If you have the audacity to ask that, then you must see some clandestine association that seems to have eluded the rest of us," he retorted.
"Just answer the question!" Carstairs demanded, having lost what was left of his patience.
Severus took a deep breath and folded his hands in front of him, as if he were contemplating what sort of detention to assign an unruly student. "We are friends. And I should point out to you that it is bad form for an attorney to lose his temper like this."
"The prosecution rests, Minister," Carstairs said through gritted teeth.
Minerva and Severus shared a look of relief just before he sat back down at the table. "The defense calls Peter Pettigrew to the stand," she stated.
Pettigrew scurried up to the witness stand and gave his full name. Before Minerva was to being questioning however, she had a request. "Minister, since Veritaserum was used with the last witness, I request that it be used again with this one."
Scrimgeour was deep in thought on the matter for a solid minute. Then he faced her. "Proceed."
Pettigrew took the Veritaserum and Minerva started to question him. "Mr. Pettigrew, did you hit Mr. Snape on the back of the head so that you would be the one to kill Albus Dumbledore?"
"Yes," he answered in the same bland voice that Severus had while under the influence of the truth serum.
"And did you also use polyjuice to disguise yourself as Mr. Snape?" she pursued.
"Yes."
"Did you, looking like Mr. Snape, murder Albus Dumbledore?"
"Yes."
She decided to try one more thing. "Whose side was Mr. Snape on during the last battle?"
"He fought on the light side, against the dark lord. We discovered that he had betrayed us."
"The defense rests," Minerva said as she stepped back.
Carstairs sighed heavily and prepared to cross-examine the witness. "Mr. Pettigrew, if you did indeed kill Dumbledore, why did you feel the need to disguise yourself as Mr. Snape?"
"We have been enemies for years and I wanted to get back at him. I wanted to ruin his chances of ever working at Hogwarts, and I wanted to gain favor with the dark lord for doing it myself," he replied.
Carstairs ran his fingers through his hair and swore under his breath. "No further questions, Minister."
Everyone sat in anxious anticipation of the verdict. Though Minerva was not a Legillimens, she knew exactly what Severus was thinking as he drummed his fingers on the table top. "You are not going to Azkaban, Severus. I will appeal to as many courts as I can to keep that from happening," she whispered.
He did not want to be let down. "We have had too many close calls this trial. Nothing is guaranteed."
Mordecai and Elisabeth were just as nervous. He was looking down, saying nothing. She put her hand on top of his. "Cyrus, you have to hope once in a while. The people listening to this are smarter than you are giving them credit."
"Since when have you learned to read my mind?" he asked.
She looked into his pensive eyes and smiled. "I just know you well."
They all jumped when a door opened. A verdict had been reached and the Minister read the paper. "The Ministry of Magic finds Severus Snape not guilty of the murder of Albus Dumbledore. However, the Ministry finds Peter Pettigrew guilty and charges him with life in Azkaban and the Dementors' kiss."
Mordecai and Elisabeth hugged each others. Severus and Minerva held each other's hand under the table. As the courtroom cleared out, those four were the last to leave. "What will you do now, sir, since you are a free man?" Mordecai asked Severus.
The former Potions Master glanced over at Minerva and smiled wryly. "I would like to have my old job back, if it's possible."
"I don't see why not," she replied.
"We're going back to school," Elisabeth informed them. She and Mordecai left and Severus noticed that he and Minerva were alone.
"I suppose I could stay at Grimmauld Place for a while," he commented, caressing her cheek with his hand.
She leaned toward him and kissed him softly. "That would be fine. I'm so glad that you're back and we have managed to clear your name."
They held each other in a tight embrace for a while. "Carstairs gave us far too many close calls, if you ask me. We had two things on our side though, skill and a little luck," he mentioned.
"I agree," she stated as she reluctantly untangled herself from him. "I need to return to the school for a while now."
They went their separate ways and Minerva greeted Flitwick politely as she returned. "Glad to have you back, Minerva, I was beginning to think that you had abandoned paperwork altogether," he commented with a smile.
"Filius, I can't thank you enough for keeping things under control for me," she told him as she took a seat at the desk.
He was about to leave, but then turned around. "What was the verdict?"
"Severus was not guilty. In fact, I plan to have him as Potions Master again for the following school year," she responded.
Flitwick left and Minerva found herself running over the trial again in her head, relieved that it was over. Mordecai and Elisabeth had gone to classrooms and collected their homework. They sat on the floor of the common room, also reflecting on the trial as they worked.
"It's a good thing that Carstairs didn't try to give you Veritaserum," she told him as she read a few more pages in her Charms textbook.
He nodded. "It was bad enough that he kept trying to infiltrate our minds. Then he had to attempt one of the most underhanded stunts and use Veritaserum."
"Carstairs knew he was close to something and would have exposed all three of you," Elisabeth added.
They worked in silence for a while. Then after he had finished his Potions homework, he turned to her. "Lisa, I promised you a date. Would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade Saturday?"
She grinned brightly. "Of course! That would be splendid." As they returned to their studying, Mordecai wondered how Minerva and Severus were doing.
Friday night, the Order met with Severus and Minerva at the table, sitting across from one another. Arthur was telling them all where the Ministry suspected that the deatheaters were hiding, since they had been chased out of the cemetery.
"We need to see that the deatheaters at the Malfoy mansion are flushed out. Now that we have confirmed that they are hiding there, I'm reminding you that they're dangerous and won't take to coming along quietly. I would head this up myself if the Minister of Magic had not given me the assignment of completing the paperwork on the deatheaters already in custody. Minerva, would you be willing to lead a team into the mansion?" Arthur implored.
He had asked her because the others had been reluctant to volunteer. "If you can find no other, then I suppose I am your best choice," she replied dryly.
Severus stood and leaned on the table with his hands in front of him, looking across the table at her. "She most certainly will not! Haven't you forgotten the four stunners she took?"
"Well Minerva, you don't have to if someone else will volunteer-" Arthur tried to intervene, but he was interrupted.
Minerva stood with a huff. "Honestly Severus, that was nearly three years ago. If I choose to take a mission, then the choice is mine. I am capable of making up my own mind!"
Neither realized that they had leaned closer to each other. "I won't let you risk your life on some reckless assignment that could get you killed!" he argued.
The rest of the Order seemed to collectively raise their eyebrows in curiosity. "And so I die. Why is it so unbearable if something happens to me?" she demanded.
"Because I need you!" he hollered back, ignoring the stares he was getting. She noticed a deep conviction in his obsidian eyes. "I fought twice to bring you back from death, and I will be damned if I let you do it again!"
At that point the two forgot that everyone was staring at them, they forgot that there was a mission, that there was even a war. For that moment all they noticed was each other. He did not give her the chance to argue further and grabbed her by the shoulders, kissing her soundly. The other members considered restraining him until they noticed that she was sliding her hands around his neck, kissing him back just as fervently.
They broke away as Ron Weasley astutely shouted, "Bloody hell!"
"I suppose the cat's out of the bag now," Minerva said as she and Severus resumed their seats, both of them blushing.
A nervous quiet had settled on the room. Molly Weasley broke it and cleared her throat. "Dare I ask how long this has been going on?"
"What would you say Minerva, nearly twenty years?" Severus commented with a smirk.
"Yes, almost that long," she agreed with a smile.
The meeting continued and it was decided that Harry would lead the group that was to investigate the Malfoy mansion. He was the last to leave, followed only by Minerva and Severus. "You don't seem surprised at us, Mr. Potter," she remarked.
Harry chuckled. "Actually it was not a complete surprise to me. I noticed that there was something between you two last spring when he came to see you by floo."
Minerva blushed, but Severus smirked. "I for one am glad that it's no longer a secret. It was beginning to be difficult, pretending to be indifferent," he relayed as they left the kitchen and headed for the stairs. When Harry was out of hearing range, Severus planted a few kissed on Minerva's neck. "I've gotten tired of hiding how I feel about you," he whispered.
She kissed him soundly. "So have I."
As they parted for oxygen he removed her hairpins. "I still owe you that chess game. Tomorrow we can go out for dinner and then meet back at your flat for some piece and quiet, as well as a chess match."
"I like that idea," she responded. The two headed up to their separate rooms and Minerva wondered how Mordecai was doing.
Saturday had finally arrived and Mordecai sat in the common room, waiting for Elisabeth. He had planned to take her to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. She came down the stairs wearing a knee-length flowing forest-green skirt, a white blouse, and a light sweater. She smiled as Mordecai walked over to her. "You look nice, Lisa."
"Thank you, now where are we going?" she inquired.
"We will be eating lunch at the Three Broomsticks," he responded.
As they walked outside and off the grounds in order to apparate, having obtained a pass to leave from Minerva, Mordecai noticed a few dark clouds in the distance. "Lisa, are you certain that you don't want to bring a jacket?"
She shook her head, her blonde hair looking bouncy that day. "No, it's too nice of a day to wear a jacket."
He sighed and muttered, "No common sense," right before they apparated.
Hogsmeade was as crowded as a train station during rush hour that Saturday. "Where on earth did all these people come from?" Lisa inquired.
"They are probably here because this will be one of the last days for nice weather before it snows," he deduced.
The Three Broomsticks was just as crowded as the rest of the town, with people sitting everywhere, conversing loudly. Mordecai attempted to get a table, even asking if he and Elisabeth could share one, but there were no vacancies and they were told that the wait would be two hours.
"We could try the Leaky Cauldron," she suggested.
He nodded and the two waded through the crowds over to it. They were able to find a table this time, but it took half an hour for them to have the chance to order, and another half an hour until their food arrived. Then they realized that half of it was colder than it ought to be, but neither was in the mood to send it back for fear that they would never see it again.
They ate quickly and left, surprised to see the town still crowded. "I'm sorry about lunch," Mordecai began.
Elisabeth kissed him on the cheek. "It was a nice idea, and thank you for paying. Why don't we return to the castle and take a walk on the grounds?"
"Somehow you manage to keep coming up with the good ideas. That sounds reasonable," he agreed.
After they had made it back to the castle grounds, the two walked hand in hand over to the lake and sat for a while, enjoying the breeze. "I knew this would work. Finally we aren't surrounded by droves of people," she mentioned.
He looked up at the increasingly gray sky. "I do hope the weather holds for a while," he paused and the weather reminded him of the stormy atmosphere that his parents hand been living in. "Lisa, do you think that I'll ever be able to admit who my parents are?" he asked, still looking up.
"Everything has its place and time, Cyrus. Now that he's free, it will be much easier for both of them," she suggested.
"Now that I know the truth, I'm just tired of all the pretending," he admitted.
"Well, you have a point and- ahh!" she shrieked.
He turned rapidly toward her and noticed that the giant squid of the lake had grabbed her by the foot and held her, suspended in the air. Mordecai pulled out his wand. "Do you mind? She is my date, not yours, and if you do not put her back, then you will face my wand!" he told the squid.
The creature merely shook Elisabeth around a bit and then set her down, uninterested in something that smelled as strange as a human. Mordecai helped her to her feet and they hurried away from the lake. "I'm beginning to suspect that this day is jinxed," he declared.
She sighed and faced him as they slowed to a walking pace. "I think we've just been involved in too many coincidences," she conveyed.
They walked with arms linked to the Quidditch Pitch. "Will you still play for this school year?" he inquired.
She scoffed. "Of course I will! I absolutely love this game and I wouldn't desert my team. The problem is what I will do next year."
"What will you do?" he probed.
"I don't really know, but I will sorely miss this game," she answered. Then she smiled at him. "See? This business of taking a walk is alright for a date."
"Well at least it hasn't-" before he could get the words out, the sky opened and rain began to pour down. They were drenched within minutes so there was no use attempting to run for shelter. "I'm so sorry, Lisa. This whole day has been a disaster," Mordecai conveyed.
She reached up and moved his hair out of his eyes. Then she stood on her tiptoes so that she could look him square in the eyes. "Mordecai Cyrus, you listen to me. I have had fun, despite all that has happened. I love you and the point is not what we are doing, but that we are spending time together. This time you are the one with no common sense."
He noticed her contagiously bright smile and when she started laughing, he laughed with her. Then they decided to waltz in the rain for a moment. They walked in the direction of a door leading into the castle and out of the weather. On the way she stopped and kissed him softly. He caressed her cheek with his hand.
"I love you," he told her before kissing her passionately. She returned the kiss and the two stood snogging in the rain for a moment.
After returning to their rooms and showering, they met for a game of chess in the common room to finish the day. That Saturday evening they were not the only ones who would be playing chess though. Severus and Minerva had sneaked away from Grimmauld Place to a prestigious muggle restaurant that served Italian food.
"This was a wonderful idea, Severus," Minerva commented.
He had ordered a steak while she had opted for chicken fettuccini topped with mushrooms. "The restaurant is just one of the places I've found by accident," he commented sardonically. Then he smiled. "By the way, you look lovely this evening."
She wore a simple black muggle dress with three-quarter length sleeves and a V-neck. "Thank you. You're not so bad yourself in a suit."
"One finds it easy to clean up nicely when no longer faced with a prison sentence," he told her wryly.
"And what now? Are you certain that you wish to come back and teach? I thought you despised working with 'dunderheads,'" she teased lightly.
He smirked and took another bite of steak. "In truth, I probably received more fulfillment out of that than anything else I could have been doing. And," he paused to kiss her hand, "it is the best way to stay close to you."
After the meal they left the restaurant with their arms linked. His other arm held a large black umbrella over both of them. "What shall we do next?" he asked her.
"I believe you still owe me that game of chess. Let's head over to my flat," she suggested.
He nodded and they apparated after making sure that they were not being watched. She went over to the kitchen table and set up a board he recognized. "So this is where you stored the old set with the scantily clad artwork," he remarked.
She laughed and began to make tea. "After all these years, you still complain about them."
He walked over to her and turned off the stove. She raised an eyebrow and eyed him curiously. "I have a better idea; why don't we have a glass of wine as we play chess?" he mentioned.
"I suppose that will work," she commented.
Soon they were seated at the board, having found a bottle of red wine and two glasses. She took a sip, savoring the body of it. "Now that you're a free man, can we let Mordecai claim us as his parents?"
He raised an eyebrow and moved a pawn. "It shouldn't be a problem. However, we would get many stares from people who want to ask too many questions. He should be allowed to admit that we're his parents."
"You make it sound like being his parents is a crime," she teased as she also moved a pawn.
Moving one of his knights, he chuckled. "Of course it's not a crime. It just looks odd because of who we are and the fact that we are house rivals."
"I think he still wants to be a Potions Master. He will need someone to be an apprentice to for a while," she reminded as she studied the board.
"And you think that I'm the most qualified for it?" he inquired.
She moved a bishop. "You're his father and he looks up to you. Also, you have extensive knowledge in the field, and you've already been assisting him."
"I suppose if you explain it like that, then perhaps I can take him as an apprentice," he acquiesced, moving a rook.
Taking one of his pawns with her bishop, she fiddled with the pawn absently before putting it down. "He went on a date today with Elisabeth," she relayed.
Severus' brow furrowed as he moved his knight again. "I hope they were alright. It poured buckets in the afternoon."
"I'll have to ask him later," she stated.
They sat quietly for a while, concentrating on the game and sipping wine. Then she spoke again. "And what will become of us, Severus?"
He took her hand again and kissed it, tempted to tell her what he had planned, but wanting to surprise her more. "You and I will never be far apart, as long as we can still meet for things like this."
"We should do something every Thursday," she added.
He did not relinquish her hand for the rest of the game, and she did not mind. He won, his black knight putting her king in checkmate after having captured her queen. She put the game away and the two finished another glass of wine, curling up next to each other on her couch. They sat in silence, watching the flames dance through the burning wood, enjoying each other's company. His left arm founds its way around her shoulders while her right arm reached around his waist. Their other hands were entwined.
Then the hand that was on her back began making small circles as the hand that was around his waist moved to caress his face. Their lips met in tender kisses. He kissed her other arm, starting at the wrist and proceeding until he reached her neck. She kissed him soundly. He deepened the kiss with a gentle, intoxicating ease.
Breaking away to breathe, their foreheads met. "Minerva, I love you, and I don't tell you nearly enough. How you fought for me at the trial is something I can never repay. I want nothing more than to stay by your side," he whispered.
Minerva was so touched by his words that her eyes misted with unshed tears. "I love you too, so very much. I would stand up for you a hundred times over, and I want nothing more than to have you by my side," she added.
The two shared several more heated, gentle kisses before he stood. She rose with him and they continued to hold each other in a loving embrace. "I'd rather not return to Grimmauld Place tonight. I prefer not to undergo another interrogation from them," he told her wryly.
"I would rather stay here tonight myself," she replied with a smile. They shared a few more searing kisses before heading into the bedroom and shutting the door.
When Minerva woke, she found that Severus had his arms wrapped around her. "Severus," she called softly. "Severus, it's morning."
He opened his eyes and kissed her cheek. "I'll say that your mattress is more comfortable than the one on the bed at Grimmauld Place. Honestly, Molly must have given me the last bed in the blasted house. I'm constantly being poked by metal springs that haven't worked properly since the house was built."
Minerva chuckled. "I'm glad my mattress agrees with you then."
She attempted to get up and disentangled herself from his embrace, but he pulled her back. "It's more than the mattress that agrees with me," he told her before kissing her soundly.
When they parted, she managed to move out of his reach. "We really should dress and head back to Grimmauld place for breakfast."
He snorted. "Let them wonder where we've gone."
"You're still a scoundrel," she said playfully.
"Thank goodness for small mercies," he stated wryly.
They took turns taking showers and then dressed, deciding to make breakfast at the flat. Severus was inspecting the refrigerator when Minerva found him. "You really don't have much to eat here," he commented.
She looked over his shoulder and sighed. "I haven't stayed her for quite a while. However, I do have most of the ingredients for pancakes and I can conjure what we don't have," she told him triumphantly.
Pancakes were made later, after a few incidents with the flour, causing both of them to look like Halloween ghosts. Having cleaned up a few messes, they sat down to eat. Halfway through the meal, Severus put his hand in his pocket.
"Missing something?" Minerva inquired.
He shook his head. "No, it's right here." He removed a small black box.
"Yet another mystery, I presume?" she asked with a half-smile.
"No mystery, just a request," he paused and took her left hand in his. "Minerva McGonagall, I love you. I want to wake up with you like this every day for the rest of our lives. I'm an ex-deatheater and not the best of people, but will you do me the honour of being my wife?" he proposed.
Her fork dropped to the floor, having been knocked off the plate in her surprise. She smiled broadly as their eyes met. "Yes, Severus Snape, I will be your wife. I love you, and you have been exonerated. I love you for the man you are, and I always have."
He removed a diamond ring from the box, with an emerald on one side and a ruby on the other, and placed it on her finger. Then they kissed soundly. When they parted, she continued to smile at him. "I want to tell our son before anyone else finds out," she conveyed.
(My thanks to excessivelyperk, artemissan09, Annette-Rose, Motet, cricketsong(), Kimmy Malfoy, trulyamused, lullaby moon, and Leta McGotor for reviewing :D)