Chapter 2: Take My Breath Away .

Albus Dumbledore stood back and observed his reflection in the mirror that dominated the far right corner of his master bedroom. He straightened the collar of his crisp white shirt before putting the black tuxedo jacket on. He studied himself closely and smiled. He certainly didn't look his age, though he felt the war had aged him slightly. He fastened a couple of buttons on the jacket and then made sure that his beard and hair looked respectable. After all, he didn't want to show himself up at the ball.

He hoped he would see the somewhat familiar witch he had quite literally bumped into. He knew that she would be attending the ball because of the muggle style dress that had fallen out of the dress box. He also knew that he would recognize her even without the dress because he had been mesmerized by her beautiful deep emerald green eyes. The grandfather clock chimed eight times, indicating to the wise wizard that it was time that he made his way to the ball. He hadn't been looking forward to the ball in the past few weeks but now there seemed to be a reason for him to attend the tiresome event.

He checked his appearance once more before sweeping out of his bedroom and making his way across the grounds belonging to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to a safe apparating site. Within mere seconds Albus had found himself transported to the steps that led to the Ministry of Magic. He slowly made his way up the stone stairs and knocked on the door loudly. The door swung open and Albus came face to face with a butler. Bagnold had obviously tried to make Winston Churchill feel as welcome as she could and if that meant employing witches and wizards to act as hired help then she would do it.

"Professor Dumbledore!" greeted the butler as he welcomed him inside. "If you would be so kind as to follow me, I will lead to where Madame Bagnold and Mr. Churchill are awaiting your arrival."

"Thank you!" replied Albus. "I wonder if you could tell me if the Auror party has arrived yet?"

"They have not arrived as yet Professor!" answered the butler as he showed Albus into a side room where the Minister of Magic was waiting for him.

"Albus!" greeted Bagnold, as she glided over towards him and embraced him briefly. "So glad you could make it. I have someone who wants to meet you and say thank you."

Bagnold led Albus over to a short balding man, who reminded Albus of a muggle bulldog.

"Winston!" said Bagnold

The muggle Prime Minister turned around and looked at Albus. He had a cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth. Churchill offered his hand and the two men shook. They had crossed paths several times while both the muggle and wizarding wars had been going on but they hadn't had a chance to talk on a personal level. Albus found himself immediately striking up an easy flowing conversation with the man and he also found him to be an intelligent man who had extensive knowledge of the wizarding community. Churchill had been brought up in this environment but was unfortunate to be a squib. As a result, he had chosen to live in the muggle world.

Bagnold interrupted their conversation by announcing that most of the guests had arrived and were awaiting their appearance. The two men followed her out of the small side room and into a large overly decorated room. Banners where hanging from the walls, candles that changed colors floated around the room and there seemed to be hundreds of people waiting as the three distinguished people appeared. They received a loud round of applause as they entered. While Bagnold and Churchill seemed to be enjoying the attention, Albus was not and took a step back so he was behind them both. The applause settled down and Bagnold made a special speech thanking each and every one of them for helping with the efforts to bring the dark lord to his knees and overpowering the dark magic that he had placed on them all.

Albus scanned the room while she was making her speech. He was looking for a certain someone but couldn't see her as the number of people who were in the room seemed to have doubled since he had arrived. He mingled among his fellow witches and wizards and tried to keep away from a particular group of witches, whose main aim in life was to dance with him. Being the gentleman that he was, he didn't have the heart to keep refusing them so he gave in and danced with them dance after dance. It was during one such dance with Amelia Crankworthy that he spotted the very woman he wanted to see.

She was standing at the edge of the dance floor in deep conversation with Alastor Moody, who happened to be a close friend of his. The sight of her took his breath away. She looked beautiful and very enchanting. She was wearing an off the shoulder midnight blue dress that clung to all her womanly features and enhanced her beauty even more. Her ebony black hair was down and had small silver stars intertwined in it. Her green eyes sparkle brightly as she laughed softly at something Alastor had said to her. Albus simply stared in her direction until the dance finally came to an end. He thanked Amelia for the honor of dancing with her and even planted a friendly kiss on her hand before turning and making his way towards Alastor and the remarkable woman. As he made his way over to them, two dancers got in his way and regardless of the direction Albus took they did the same. Albus smiled politely as they apologized profoundly to him for getting in his way but then quickly continued on his original course. When he finally reached the spot, he was disappointed to find that she had disappeared, leaving only Alastor at the edge of the dance floor.

"Albus, old chum!" greeted Alastor "Thank Merlin I have come across someone who despises these events as much as I do!"

"Alastor!" replied Albus coming to a stop beside him. "I take it you're not enjoying the ball!"

"I never enjoy these sort of things," said Alastor taking a swig from his hip bottle "I find the company can be sometimes tiresome, don't you think? At least I had Miss McGonagall to talk to and she hates these events as much as we do Albus. But she has abandoned me."

"Miss McGonagall?" questioned Albus. He knew of the surname because they were quite a high-ranking family in the wizarding community known for their loyalty to the side of light.

"One of my best aurors," explained Alastor. "She was standing beside me just a few moments ago. Hard to miss that one…very beautiful! But don't tell Poppy that, mind you. She would hex me into next week and not bother to heal me."

"How is the delightful Poppy?" asked Albus who remembered Poppy from her school days when she would get herself into all sorts of scraps with her best friends, Xiomara Hooch and Minerva McGonagall. "Minerva!"

"Poppy is in excellent health," answered Alastor with a hint of confusion on his face. "You mentioned the name Minerva!"

"Is your auror Minerva McGonagall?" questioned Albus as a light in his head went on. That was why her eyes had seemed so familiar to him.

"Yes it is Minerva!" replied Alastor as realization hit him "Has she caught your eye?"

"Alastor!" said Albus in surprise.

"Only stating the obvious my dear friend!" replied Alastor "Here she comes now!"

"Alastor!" said Minerva. Her voice was soft and velvety and Albus could just about pick up the soft Scottish accent she spoke with. "Professor Dumbledore!"

"I'm needed over there!" announced Alastor quickly.

Albus watched his long time friend limp over to the other side of the room and started to talk with another auror. Albus could feel her eyes watching him and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He had never been very good at talking to women socially.

"Are you enjoying the ball?" she asked him with a small smile.

"Yes!" he answered.

"You didn't look like you were," she pointed out "especially while you were dancing. You looked like you would rather face Grindelwald than be here."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she clamped her small delicate hands over it and cursed herself for saying such a thing. To her surprise, he merely chuckled and she noticed that his blue eyes twinkled brightly in the soft candlelight.

"I'm not really a dancer," he replied a moment later. "But they want to dance and I oblige!"

"Very noble of you," she answered. "I'm sorry for my earlier comment. Of course you wouldn't want to go through that again."

"Let's not dwell on that," he told her. "Minerva McGonagall, well you certainly have changed!"

"Have I?" she answered with a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"I didn't recognize you the other day when we bumped into one another," he continued. "I did think there was something familiar about you but I couldn't quite put my finger on it till I spoke with Alastor!"

"I suppose I have changed a bit," she answered. "Hazard of the job really."

"I don't think I would call it a hazard!" he told her.

Her eyes caught his briefly before another blush appeared on her face. She quickly peered out on to the dance floor and watched the dancers move to the classical music.

"Would you care to dance?" he asked.

"I thought you didn't dance!" she answered with a smile.

"Well it would be a honor to dance with you!" he assured her as he offered her his arm, which she accepted and allowed him to lead her out on to the dance floor.

They stood in front of each other and Albus gingerly placed one hand on her slender waist and pulled her closer. He then took hold of her hand and held it tenderly in his. She took a step closer to him and picked up some of her skirt so she wouldn't get tangled up in it as they danced. Their eyes locked together and they moved subconsciously to the music around them, slipping into their own world where they were the only two people there. They blocked out the people around them as they were consumed with each other.

"McGonagall!" a voice broke into their thoughts and shattered the spell that was between them.

Minerva shook her head and looked in the direction of the voice to see Alastor Moody and the rest of the members of her hit squad looking at her.

"What's happened?" she asked as she let go Albus' hand and took a step away from him.

"Our rogue Dolor Mortis have just caused a explosion near the small village of Saberspelling," explained Alastor. "Our presence is needed to rein those scum in!"

Minerva nodded and went to follow her team members but Albus caught her arm and looked at her with searching eyes.

"Be careful!" he told her.

"I always am!" she answered with a small smile as she leaned in and placed a small kiss on his cheek.

Albus watched her sweep off after her fellow aurors and then touched his cheek where she had placed a simple kiss. It was sending a tingling sensation throughout his body and Albus believed himself into be in love for the first time in his long life.