I received some reviews asking for a quicker update and what do you know? dun dun dun duuuun! I just fell in love with this chapter and coldn't get myself away from the computer. I don't know how soon the next chapter will be posted, however, I have a vacation to look forward to as well as the return of volleyball. :-\

anywho...enjoy!


Chapter Twelve: Aberforth

Albus sat up from the bed quickly and grabbed his knickers, ready to chase his brother to the ends of the earth and then do away with him. "I'll kill him," he muttered as he put them on and grabbed his wand, "I'll blast him into oblivion. Damned brother; if I don't do it, someone else will," he spoke sardonically.

He turned when he was finished to look at the wide eyed and rather confused Minerva. She hadn't been spared any privacy at all with Aberforth walking in; he was not sure at all how much sheet had been covering the woman's thighs, but he was quite certain that nothing, except for him, was covering her chest. Albus didn't give a damn about his hindquarters being seen, or his back, but he certainly gave a damn about Minerva being…displayed, for lack of better word. Yes, Aberforth would be a pile of ashes by the end of the hour.

"Are you all right?" he asked gently of Minerva.

She nodded slowly. "Albus…" she trailed off, looking from the door, to him, to the drum that fell at the side of the bed.

The man grabbed her hand gently. "Don't worry. I'll kill him twice over. Brother never did have a sense of privacy," he rolled his eyes. "Get dressed and I'll be back when he's been blown up."

Then he ran out the room, down the stairs, and to the bottom floor, where there was no Aberforth to be seen. Thus, he screamed, "Aberforth, if you don't show your abhorrent face right this second, I'll blow your pub and you into a million tiny pieces!"

No response came. Albus took out his wand and waved it every large object in the room, that is, anything Aberforth could be hiding behind—he wouldn't dare leave; Albus knew exactly where to find him, anyhow, if he had.

Explosions erupted quite rhythmically as he pointed his wand from pot to pot and they were blown into oblivion; it sounded like a battlefield: boom!

Half the room was in shambles before he finally caught a glimpse of his brother's shaggy brown hair and unmistakable robes of lime green. The man pointed his wand directly at the bit of hat he saw and said quite calmly, though with a tinge of venom in his voice, "Come out now or you won't ever see the light of day again."

He peeked out from behind the enormous grandfather clock that he'd been hiding behind with a guilty and terrified face. His wand was shaking in his hand; no mocking expression would dare enter his face while Albus was irate—he'd learned long beforehand that taunting his brother when he was angry was a very bad idea. "N-now, now, now, don't hurt me, Albus. I…I didn't even give it a thought that you'd have a…girl in there with you," he said slowly, careful not to step over the line of courtesy.

Clutching his wand tightly, he held it up to face his brother, but made no other move. "Did it ever occur to you that I am on holiday, Aberforth?" He decided to take it slow; Albus was perfectly capable of killing the man, but he didn't really want to do that if he could avoid it—he had never heard good things about Azkaban.

"Certainly," he nodded, "which is why I did what I did in the first place. I figured, since you weren't up, that you had gone out drinking or something of the like; never would it have occurred to me that you'd have taken someone home to sleep with; I mean, how old are you?"

Albus blinked to himself. His brother was on the brink of being a pile of ash, yet he still had the nerve to insult him; he'd been wrong, Aberforth had little care for his angry brother's feelings, or his own life for that matter. Some things never change. "I'm not much older than you and you still take women home all the time. Of course, they're normally a little bit worse for wine," he responded menacingly.

"True, but…you? Come now, man!" he waved his arms about dramatically, "When is the last time you let anyone near you? Women have never been your forte and it's wrong of you to assume that I would assume that you would have anyone of any decency in your bed," he stopped as a thought occurred to him, "Who is she, anyway?"

Taking a very, very deep breath, he exhaled slowly, releasing the tight grip on his wand and bringing it down. "She works for the ministry and was one of my students. If you've scared her off or if you say anything to her that is unruly, I will kill you and make it look like an accident."

Aberforth had a wide smile cross his face. "Tsk, tsk. Dear Albus has fallen in love, have you not?"

There was no use in saying no; it would only come out later anyhow. "I have, yes."

The younger brother chuckled to himself out of sheer delight; he ran into much more than he had suspected by arriving; yet another person in his little circle to tease had come. "Might I ask how old this former student of yours is?"

It was destined to sound horrible, their age difference, but he didn't care and said it anyway. Who gave a care if there was a sixty year difference? "Twenty-four."

"Ha," Aberforth laughed aloud out of sheer amusement. "No wonder you're tangling yourself up so early in the morning. Merlin, if I had someone that young I'd be on overdrive and loving it. For someone like you…that's got to be heaven," he shook his head in disbelief and yet amusement. "I'd fall in love with any twenty-four year old that came my way, too!"

Albus ran his thumb up and down his wand methodically. It was not at all that Aberforth was making a situation out of the age difference, but what he deduced because of it. While Albus could certainly not deny that the sex was invigorating, he also knew that it wasn't like that; he loved Minerva long before they made love. "If you'd ever fallen in love in your life, Aberforth, you'd know that age doesn't mean a thing."

Shaking his head slowly, the younger brother sighed, suddenly growing quite serious after hearing the accusation. His head was suddenly held quite high and indignation was written all across his face. "While it is true that I've never been engaged or flaunted myself and a girl to the press—"

He couldn't stand for that sort of accusation, never. Albus never flaunted himself or anybody. Neither reporters nor the public had any right to know about his affairs—though he certainly could not deny that they'd found out on more than one occasion. "Flaunt? I have never so much as flaunted a toe to the press!"

"Think what you want," he shook his head, "but if I were you, I'd ask that girl of yours. Power and fame attract women. I know that you're aware that I am in disagreement with everything about your life as you are of mine, but it's obvious to me that you're heading rather far over the hill to be in love with someone that young, where as you have many other things to offer besides yourself."

Albus was about to retort with some unbearably nasty comment when he realized his brother's blank stare past him—not at him. His mouth hung dumbly open for a fair few seconds before Albus turned around to be faced with Minerva, who had wide eyes herself and had turned a new shade of white. She looked up at Albus and blinked slowly.

Clearing his throat, Albus opened an arm to welcome Minerva into the conversation he and Aberforth had been having. "This is Minerva McGonagall. Min, this is my loutish brother, Aberforth."

She nodded her head slowly. "Hello."

There were several minutes of agonizingly awkward silence where Minerva looked from one brother to the next in complete and utter dismay. Albus felt that he should say something, but there was nothing to say; Minerva had most certainly heard that last statement—what could she possibly be thinking? After a debated many seconds, the woman balanced her head to look up at her lover, blinking gently, and then spoke to him, "If you don't mind, I think I ought to go home. You need to spend time with your brother."

She stepped away from Albus, awaiting the reply.

Of course, it would have been intelligent of him to agree to the woman leaving, but she needed to stay so that the three of them could become friends; while Albus acted as if he hated his brother—and he did every now and then—he also trusted the man's judgment, quite foolishly. He wanted the two of them to get along…to trust each other as he trusted them. He stared at Minerva gently. "Please don't leave on account of him."

The woman, who suddenly seemed so very much like a girl between two much older men, shook her head gently. "I refuse to stay here. I'm leaving with or without your consent, Albus."

He sighed, knowing well that Minerva would do as she said. He didn't want her to go, that would be dangerous to their relationship, but he couldn't very well let her leave on bad terms. "Come by later after you feel better. Aberforth, I'm sure, isn't planning on leaving for a day or two—come back, won't you?"

She looked past Albus to his brother who was looking very guilty indeed and then back at him. "Of course I'll come back." Then she gave him a highly sad look and walked through the threshold. It was not two seconds after the door had shut that he heard a pop, letting him know that she had most certainly apparated as quickly as she could away from his house.

Albus turned to face his brother, feeling a new wave of anger. While he wanted to scream and then blast the idiot into oblivion, he chose to keep control of himself, thus, he nodded very coolly and spoke to him, "I'm going to sleep now. You may stay or go, but if you stay here, I do not want to hear a peep out of you for as long as I am in my bedroom." And then he too left, up the stairs and into bed, where a drum sat still on top of an untouched pillow.


Minerva gave a hard swallow as she walked into her bedroom, still in disarray from the day and evening before: the pillows were strewn all across the room, two in one corner and one on the opposite side; there were hardly any sheets covering the bed, due in part to the fact that they covered a majority of the floor, resting humbly; the only part of the room at all that was clean was near the glass door that led to the balcony. The woman walked slowly towards it, opened the door, and walked to the view of the lake, sitting on the edge of the balcony so that her feet dangled high above the ground.

She sighed sadly and angrily at the same time; where did that man have any room at all to speak for her? Where in hell did he have the means to see her with her lover, making love, for that matter? Not to mention criticize her after it?

It was very true and very important that he was the brother of the man she loved, which therefore meant that she had a reason to be friendly with the man, but first impressions had not been kind to her at all. Minerva had no will (besides the fact that it would make Albus happy) to like or even speak with…was his name Aberfink? Abertly? Aber…Aber…Aber-something. Well, anyhow, she wanted nothing to do with him, who obviously thought her nothing more than a petty, glorified whore.

Ah, but that was not the end of it, for he was to be near her rather often if she were to ever…ever be with Albus…publicly…personally…forever. The awful man would be lurking around every corner, only because he was Albus's brother. Oh, what an awful thought!

Clenching the railing tightly, Minerva shook it gently, if only to vent out some of the anger she had just acquired.

"I can tell right now that it isn't a wise thing to anger you," a familiar, fulfilling voice spoke from not too far behind her.

She turned quickly to see Albus who looked much taller than she had ever seen him. He was smiling softly, perhaps at his own joke, perhaps for the sight of her. He approached her at a slow pace and then sat beside the woman, letting his own feet fall off the edge of the balcony and placed his arm around Minerva.

Gladly, she placed her head on his chest and took in a slow breath, happy to be in his arms and fear nothing, as was the feeling he always gave to her. She did not feel it right to start speaking to him after such an uncomfortable scene, at least not to start the conversation, and apparently neither did the man, for he held his tongue for far too many moments. Neither of them wanted to start, but they both wanted to speak—Minerva could feel it in his heart beat, which was far from irregular.

In the end, he did start talking, but it was almost an unwilling voice that caught her ears; perhaps remorseful would be a better word.

"You can't be mad at him, Minerva, not for what he said in any case; that's my business. He was merely looking out for me, trying to make me see the truth, or the potential truth, anyhow."

"And what," she responded slowly, "is the potential truth?"

Albus sighed gently. "I am not as young as I once was and let's face it, you are very young. It looks bad, especially when I have such an influence in the wizarding world. Of course I know that we're in love, but others may understand it to be the attachment of a bachelor and advantage of a young thing, as you are."

She looked up at him, staring intently, suddenly aware of the position in which she had placed herself. Originally, yes, she did look at Albus as being something special in the sense that everyone knew his name, but once she got to know him, that thought process completely disintegrated and she understood why so many people looked up to the man; he was wonderful and brilliant—so brilliant that any self respecting girl would throw herself at him, just to be seen with him and perhaps get the satisfaction of becoming the new rumor the Daily Prophet. That sort of behavior was disgusting, but it happened; she most likely did come off that way; she'd only been with him for less than a week.

Minerva shook her head slowly. "I am young, but that does not mean that I don't have a sense of what's right and wrong—and I would like to say here and now that your brother was very, very wrong for coming in like that—just because I'm younger doesn't mean that I'm a petulant child who must have her way and will do anything for it."

"I know that," he pulled her closer to him, "but not everyone else does. Frankly, I don't care about everyone else, but I do care about my brother; he's the only family I have now…and I refuse to end it on the premises of a woman."

She sighed, knowing full well that throwing any sort of tantrum wouldn't help the situation; she had to talk to the brother or else her relationship would be destroyed, and she could not stand that sort of pain again. "I don't like him. What sort of a person barges into a room that is not his in the morning, banging a drum?"

Despite himself, it seemed, a small grin appeared on his face. "He was very wrong for coming in like that, I'll give you that, and I plan on giving him a nasty jinx when he's about to leave for it, but you must understand our relationship; we're a pair of pranksters, him and I, and it's in our natures to do whatever possible to waver the other. He simply thought that he'd be waking me from a late night—not a late escapade with my lover.

—don't look at me like that," he shook his head at the woman, "He's heard plenty of words from me for it and there will be more. I am in no way excusing his behavior for looking in on us, but what I am unfortunately saying is that it isn't an irregular happening."

Staring intently with a glare, the woman took in a deep breath. "I don't want to come in any contact with him."

Albus shook his head and pecked her gently on the top of her head. "He'll watch his mouth now, Minerva. The old boy is scared of me, even if he pretends like he isn't. I daresay, Aberforth will be quite civil to you."

Minerva sighed. She didn't want to do it, but she would for Albus, whom she loved and whom she planned to love. "If he'll do me the courtesy of being civil, I suppose I can do the same," she rolled her eyes.

"That's a girl," he squeezed her again. "Since we've got that settled," he lifted her chin up so that she looked straight into his eyes, "Tell me again just why I was making love to you earlier?"

A blush, deep rose, came to her cheeks quickly at the thought that nixed her angry mood over the brother. Minerva woke in a rather strange and perhaps kinky mood, which seemed to spread rather quickly as they'd awoken together; the idea to use whipped cream in their morning glory even came into her head, though Albus wanted her too badly to go and retrieve it. "I asked you to," she whispered gently to the man who had a familiar glimmer in his eyes.

"Really?" he whispered into her ear. "But you didn't just ask me," he pulled her waist down to the floor so that she was lying on the balcony deck. Smiling, he kissed her soundly on the lips, releasing a desire in her system that left her wanting him—wanting his kiss, touch, body. "If I recall," he placed a hand on either side of her and stared down daringly, "You damn near begged me." Albus kissed her again, this time sliding his tongue into her hot mouth, searching for the point where she would most certainly beg him to do it again. He lifted himself up gently off her and grinned while Minerva stared at the man, completely enraged that he had such an effect on her after she'd been so angry with his brother.

"That isn't fair," she said breathlessly, not wanting herself to succumb to the man who was so very much stronger than her in every sense possible.

The man smiled impishly. "Tell me, Minerva, what is it that you said earlier?" he ran his hand along her rosy cheek. "Please, Albus," he whispered in the closest voice to a girlish one that he had, "please. Make love to me. I want you. Please."

She rolled her eyes. God, and she was in love with that man? "Albus," she smiled and placed a finger on his lips, "If you're attempting to taunt me, you're not pulling it off."

"I'm not taunting you," he grinned innocently, "I am seducing you."

Despite herself, she let out an amused giggle. "Your methods, I think, need a little bit of enlivening."

His eyes went off, twinkling as a wry smile came across his features. "Care to give me a lesson?"

Minerva rolled her eyes again.

Three hours later

Yes, she was going to do it, even though she really had no intention of it. Aberforth was still not on her favorite people list, but Albus made her feel much better, even prone to giving the idiot a second chance. Thus, she knocked on the door to her lover's house (knowing full well that Aberforth would be the one answering the door due to Albus's threat to the man) and waited patiently for the door to open while looking at her muggle dress of blue.

When the man answered, he looked very surprised indeed. "Hello. My brother is er…sleeping upstairs. I don't suppose he'd have a problem with you waking him."

She nodded her head sweetly. "How long has he been in bed?" It was only her curiosity that made her ask—Albus had only been in his room for perhaps the last hour. The woman was completely enraptured in the idea of sneaking something behind anyone's back—even if it was something as silly as her lover slipping away to be with her.

"He's been locked up in his room for a little bit over three hours; I can't imagine him sleeping all that time," he scratched his head while staring rather intently upon the woman, "but stranger things have happened." He brought his hand awkwardly down and opened the door much wider so that the woman could enter, which she did.

The place had been tidied up a bit since the time that she left, she realized; not a single piece of pottery was smashed, but put into its rightful place, completely restored by the wonders of magic. Despite herself, the woman had to find a sense of self to Aberforth, who fixed his mess and apparently…cleaned the kitchen?

Minerva turned towards the man awkwardly as she walked to the center of the bottom floor where everything was visible. "You cleaned up, I see."

Aberforth nodded slowly. "I thought it was something of my duty…" he trailed off.

The woman could tell that the man wanted to say something more, perhaps apologize, but she would have nothing of it, not quite then. Instead, she turned towards the kitchen which had no scorch marks of any kind and everything appeared as it had the very first time she entered his home; there was even a sweet smell to the room. "I daresay," she sighed as she ran a hand along the burner of the stove which had previously been indecipherable, "that you've outdone yourself," she turned back towards the brother, "I don't expect that it will be long before Albus forgives you; he didn't want to clean the kitchen."

Nodding slowly, the man spoke back as if he were afraid of the woman's response to his question, "I suppose you'll find it hard to forgive me for my atrocious behavior earlier?"

Men never ceased to amaze her. Minerva stared at Aberforth, who obviously carried the family trait of being blunt, and then nodded herself. "Might I ask," she inquired gently, "what you expected to accomplish by bursting into Albus's bedroom in the morning?"

He shrugged. "In my head, I had figured that he was suffering from too much alcohol; of course only after the fact did it occur to me that he doesn't drink—not in the masses, anyhow. I am deeply mortified at what took place; please believe me when I say that I had no idea that I'd run into…well, my brother and you."

"I believe you," she sighed as she opened up a spotless cabinet, "but I don't believe that it's something that is immediately forgivable. Of course, I'd never dream of depriving you the sight of your brother and a…what was the word you used?" she whispered gently, "power driven girl," the woman blinked softly.

Aberforth blinked hard, visibly ashamed of what he had said where lady's ears were listening. "I was only looking out for my brother. Forgive me, but I've known him much longer than you and I know that he is capable of being rather gullible; I was only making sure that he hadn't put himself into a bad situation. And," he stared straight at Minerva with blue-green eyes, "forgive me again, but you are rather pretty—it's the pretty ones that he's always had to worry about, seeing as how he's perfectly capable of getting one just by the mention of his name."

Minerva shook her head gently. "I don't need to prove to anyone that I love him," she whispered, "but for your sake and our relationship, I'll tell you that he's everything that I've ever wanted. I'd take him even if he didn't have a penny and be happy." Aberforth looked at her, slightly bewildered at her straightforwardness, but it was apparent that he was paying very close attention and most probably believed her—as she believed herself. "I wouldn't trade these last few days I've had with him for anything and I expect to get nothing out of it, except perhaps love from your brother."

In awe, Aberforth stared before allowing a smile to cross his face. "Well Miss McGonagall, I daresay you're either a fantastic actress, or right off your heels in love—I'll go with the latter. Welcome to the family," he shrugged.

Something amazing happened in that following second as she registered the words of Aberforth; she smiled. It suddenly occurred to her that she'd decided her entire life by saying something with no forethought at all; she wanted to be by Albus for ever. And what's more…his brother accepted her—not even Edwin's family had wanted her. "I don't think," she said modestly, "that it's far enough into the relationship to say that, but thank you."

Aberforth smiled. "If my brother decides he's going to fall in love, he does it; I don't expect it will be long at all, if that's the case."

She nodded with not surprised, but still wide eyes. "I think," she said absentmindedly, "I'll go and wake him." And then she fled up the stairs. When she was at the top, she looked down through the giant square at Aberforth, who was looking down at his feet—though Minerva was sure his eyes had been on her only seconds before then. Minerva was suddenly glad that she overheard their conversation earlier; she'd fallen in love with a man whose brother was perhaps horrible at judgment, but a good brother nevertheless; it was nice to see that she could have a future with a real family.

With a smile upon her face, she entered the chamber of Albus; he was sitting on his bed, reading some book that had red and yellow dots on its black cover. The woman smiled softly as she approached him and sat next to him on the bed. "How is it?" she whispered gently into his ear.

"The book? It's absolute poppycock; something about designing genetics to make animals have characteristics—I ask you, who would want to know what color their children's eyes were beforehand?" He looked at Minerva for a second, where she had supposed the answer was rhetorical and then took her hand gently into his. "You were downstairs for an awfully long time?"

Grinning gently, she kissed him on the lips. "I had a chat with your brother. You're right," she blinked, "he is a good man—bad judgment, yes, but good nonetheless. He…he apologized again and he explained to me why he said what he said earlier to you. I think we're on rather good grounds now—not that I'll ever in my life forgive him for what happened this morning."

"I'm proud of you, Min." He pecked her softly on the lips and then his eyes grew wide as a thought no doubt occurred to him. "Just how much of you did he see earlier?"

She shrugged. "Enough." When he stared at her inquisitively, she went on, "the majority of my left side. I'm not sure…and I don't think I wish to know any more than I already do."

The man nodded. "I'll bet you anything he's in the kitchen, drooling right now, now that he's met you," he stated playfully.

"I doubt it," she raised an eyebrow, "and besides that, what business have you of hoping that your brother is dreaming of me? That's just sick."

Smiling widely, Albus spoke back to the woman, "That means I win; I get the girl."

"Well," she lifted up nose curtly, "I don't think I want to be part of your idiotic games—or pranks for that matter, and I certainly will not be part of your competitions. If that's all that this is, then I quit."

Albus gave a chuckle. "You know, I do love you."

She glanced back down at the man, unable to act angry or even pestered in the slightest. "I love you too, unfortunately."

He shook his head while a smile waited on his face, "I don't need any comments, my dear. A simple 'I love you' will do wonders for my ego."

"Your ego doesn't need any more buffering," she smiled wryly. "Any more and you'll have had an overdose in which case you'll explode; Merlin forbids that happen." And she slid off the bed and then out of the room. The woman waited at the top of the stairs for the man, who came out, running, after her. A giggle escaped her lips at the sight of him. "I daresay, Albus, I've just earned myself bragging rights."

"By what way," he said as they walked down the stairs, "do you believe that?"

"Simple," she laughed again. "You've just lost the girl and chased after her in your knickers."

He stopped to look at himself and then at Minerva. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

She grinned. "I'm not the one who's poking out," she raised an eyebrow after taking a glance at his knickers and then continued on her merry way down the stairs.


"I think it's rather out of sorts myself, to be drinking anything after that horrendous incident this morning," Minerva's sweet voice crossed the table. "After all, is that not what caused everything to happen? Really Albus, your brother figured you'd been drinking and then the both of us were discovered!"

The girl was much happier, Albus saw, after having a drink or two; much more relaxed. No, she wasn't inebriated, perhaps on the brink of tipsy, but she was in a good spot, and it was nice to be seeing that. The woman nearly perfectly fit into their little circle, laughing and acting up as he and Aberforth did.

Minerva, Aberforth, and Albus had been talking a majority of the afternoon about silly things, the sort of things that the couple had talked about in the days before; never anything serious—that's just the way that Albus preferred it to be, that is, at least when he was near his brother. The man had been called a boor too many times by Aberforth when he talked about serious subjects to enter that realm. Thus, the three of them were enlightened in nonsense talk; so whimsical was it, that he allowed his thoughts to drift as he watched the girl's eyes glimmer from merrymaking.

She had taken things well; even the incident from earlier in the day—Albus hadn't even taken it so well, and he'd have expected that she'd be the worst of them. Ah, but it was Miss Minerva who held her head high and offered no threats of anything—of course he never would have expected the woman to threaten his brother, but any other woman would have been angry enough to consider leaving him after such an episode (and such a short time together). Of course, he had known all along that she was a strong character when she was with others; she'd never dream of leaving such a good thing unless she had a real reason—potentially something life threatening.

He chuckled to himself.

No, he had finally found the one thing in life that he'd been looking for and it was an awesome power. Albus had at last found love in a girl who loved him and whose eyes shined brilliantly when she was happy and welled up tremendously when she was sad; he found a real person, not just a figment of his imagination.

"Albus?"

Blinking, his vision grew ever so slightly clearer as he stared upon the woman who had just addressed him. "Yes, Min?"

It was her turn to blink this time, though they were long drawn out movements where her mouth grew into a soft smile. "Why are you staring like that? Aberforth was very clearly just insulting you, and when I turn to hear your retort, you're staring like a red headed teddy bear."

Quickly, he glanced over at his brother who had an interested grin upon his face and then back at Minerva. "I was only thinking. Isn't a man allowed to think?"

Aberforth laughed softly to himself. "Thinking is allowed. Fantasizing is not, which is what you were clearly doing." He glanced over at Minerva who had a slight blush upon her face and then back towards his brother who failed to respond, "How long have the two of you been an item, then? Things must be serious if you're allowing me to spend time with you two—forgive me, Minerva, but my brother tends to think of me as a lady stealer; they can't stand my charm," he winked in a solely playful manner.

The lovers looked at each other awkwardly. Naturally, Albus was the one to answer the question, though rather slowly, "We've been growing closer in this past week. I suppose we haven't technically been a couple until…" he scrunched up his face in thought—he couldn't for the life of him remember how long ago it was that he first made love to the woman—"well, two, maybe three days ago, depending on how you look at it."

"Well," the younger brother spoke out of surprise, "then I suppose this meeting is a little bit premature? You usually keep the girls for at least a month before I hear anything about them."

Albus shrugged. Perhaps, yes, he would have waited to introduce Minerva to Aberforth if he had had the chance, but he felt no pressure by letting them see each other so soon; besides, it wasn't like he willingly let the two of them meet—Aberforth caused his own introduction. "I have faith in this one," he smiled at Minerva, "she's very good about adapting to situations. You know, she travels for the ministry; she's been everywhere imaginable."

The younger brother looked at Minerva with an interest in his eyes, "Travel, do you? What branch are you in, by the way?"

"Transfiguration. And Albus gives me too much credit," she smiled lovingly at him, "I just make sure that everything goes well in certain places where we experiment and that's only half of the time. The other half I write reports on what I've seen, so you see, it's really a matter of staying with the status quo."

Aberforth chuckled. "I always knew that Albus would take to someone who's as interested for science as he is—and that is saying something."

"I resent that remark," Albus spoke up indignantly. "You should not ridicule me just because I am not interested in the dribble that you like. Come now! Your favorite book until you were forty-two was The Importance of Being Hairy."

"It's a classic!" he retorted. "You ought to give it a chance. You gain a lot of respect for your fellow man and animals."

Albus glanced at Minerva who had the most peculiarly amused smile upon her face; it was as if she had finally slipped into her own little world and refused to return to the real one. The man turned back towards his brother; "My dear brother, you gained a love for farm animals and yourself. I do not believe that constitutes your fellow man."

"Poppycock and balderdash. I now love anything and everything around me with hair."

That was the breaking point, at least for one of the three. Minerva's laughter echoed between them, radiating like the sun, warm and joyful. The two boys looked at her incredulously; they'd been having a real argument and then the woman just broke into fits of laughter. What a silly thing to do; but laughter was infectious. Before long at all, the three of them were laughing happily.


Oh goodness me. There it is. It isn't as humorous as I had hoped, but I thought it did all right, depending on the sort of humor you like…

We'll be seeing Aberforth for another chapter or two. :) I'm not sure what sort of mood I'm gonna bring to the table; it depends on what my characters tell me to do!

Please review if you've taken the time to read this story. It's my current pride and joy and I can only make it better if I have some input.

-minni