"Tabby-kins, I'm bored."
"Mmm."
"Tabby, I'm bored."
"Oh yes…"
"Minerva…"
"Al, dearest, what in the name of Merlin do you want me to do about your present situation?"
"Entertain me."
"I'm busy."
"Please?"
"No. Entertain yourself, Al."
"I'm boreddddddddddddd."
"Write something. Draw something. I don't know. Pretend you're in detention."
"Oh that's nice."
"I want you to write 100 reasons why you shouldn't be so annoying then."
"Okay, reason number 1—"
"In silence, Albus."
Albus sighed. "Fine."
Minerva returned to sorting Albus' paperwork and Albus returned to humming. Not loudly, but just loudly enough to prove a slight distraction. Minerva glanced up from her work to throw a scathing look toward her husband. He did not appear to notice, as he was twirling her quill between his long fingers. She sighed inaudibly in defeat. At least he was quieter.
An hour passed. Minerva, so absorbed in her work, did not notice how dark the sky was outside. The scratching of her quill stopped, and she finally tuned in to hear that Albus was also finished with his task.
Albus was sitting back, with his hands folded serenely in his lap, and had been watching Minerva work steadily. Minerva quirked a tiny smile when she noticed that he had lit the candles in her study for her to continue working.
"Thank you, Albus," she murmured softly. She set her quill down and rubbed her tired eyes. Albus smiled and proudly handed her his work. She pressed her lips together and took the parchment without comment.
"100 Reasons why I should not Interrupt or Annoy my Ice Queen," Minerva read.
She snorted. Albus kept his face schooled to a look of polite interest.
"Reason number 1: she's beautiful.
Reason number 2: she's marvelous.
Reason number 3: she's gorgeous.
Reason number 4: stunning.
5. celestial
6. amazing.
7. my heart.
8. she's great in bed."
Minerva stopped then and glared up at Albus. He was grinning a little brighter now.
"Albus, you wrote this? Are these truly legitimate reasons why you shouldn't be so annoying?"
"Well…I think so."
Minerva shook her head and scanned the rest of the parchment. The rest of the reasons were similarly worded. She sighed.
Then she noticed a short essay written on the bottom of the page.
"Let us hope this makes more sense, Albus."
"Oh, I think so, dear."
Minerva's eyes scanned the first sentence. The second. Then Albus saw her eyes whiz to the final word. She couldn't even speak. And Albus knew why. He slowly rose to his feet and took his place behind her straight-backed chair. He gently rubbed small circles into her tensed shoulders. As he did so, he began reciting what he had wrote.
"She glides in regal step across the stone corridors, in the midst of the day. The sun is shining brightly…yet she shines brighter still. Her slender figure is swathed in dark, brooding robes, and casts magnificent shadow against the golden sunlit wall. Her manner is that of an Ice Queen. It takes something…or someone…with an eternal flame burning inside to thaw her icy heart…"
Minerva tilted her head upwards and sideways to look at her husband.
"Albus, is this…who I think it is?"
"I don't know, darling, is it?" he replied enigmatically. He passed his fingers over her smooth creamy-skinned shoulder and pressed against her pulse point. She shivered, despite the warmth of his fingers.
"Her glacial beauty is as stunning as the winter sunlight. Her smile can burn, can shimmer, can stop anyone's heart. In her icy fury, she still is as lovely as ever. I wish I could tell her that she captured my heart thirty long years ago…"
Minerva closed her eyes.
"This is getting quite sentimental, Albus."
"Tabby, you forget that I am quite a sentimental old man."
Albus continued to speak softly to her.
"I only wish that I could have told her sooner that I loved her. I love her, and I always will."
Minerva's eyes opened wide as she met her husband's calm gaze down at her. There were a million things that passed unsaid from their gazes. Minerva bit her lip and her eyes followed his lips as they came closer and closer and finally rested briefly on hers.
And with that touch, so simple yet powerful, her icy heart melted, as it had the first time thirty years ago.