Minerva drew in a deep breath and briefly contemplated her options.
'I could apologize straight and resign right away. Or I should confess then resign,' she thought.
A small voice in her head said, 'confess to him and stay. He might grow to love you and if not, then you may leave.' It was a tempting plan. She summoned up her Gryffindor courage and took another deep calming breath before starting again.
"Albus, I think you should take a seat because what I'm about to tell you won't be so easy to process and it might…actually it will change your opinion of me."
Albus sat in his usual place. A comfy tan-colored sofa with blood-red throw pillows embroidered with gold trimmings. Very Gryffindor indeed.
Minerva took the chair adjacent to him. A straight-backed wooden chair that hardly looked comfortable to be sitting in, but fit very well with the seriousness of the situation. They just looked at each other delaying their plans for as long as possible, but Minerva reluctantly broke the trance by saying,
"Albus, I've known you since I was a student in this school. You made me take such an interest in Transfiguration which became the subject I excelled in and became the subject I wanted to teach the next generations. We have developed quite a strong friendship over the decades; we shared insights, happiness, sadness, anger, grief and affection for this school and its students, most particularly our cubs," she added with a smile and he smiled back in agreement.
"But over the course of a few years, after you defeated the Dark Lord and when you appointed me as you Deputy Headmistress, a certain affection budded within me towards you. As we played our chess games, spent hours working together in your office and just sharing knowledge in the field that interests both of us to a certain extent far beyond your usual chap, that affection bloomed into something more through time.
"I started to realize that I was falling for you, but I always pushed it aside since I knew that I was in no position what-so-ever to harbor such feelings towards my employer. I could not betray the trust you have instilled in me nor the friendship that I so cherish. I did not dare to jeopardize that. I had to make sure if you had any such feelings towards me, but I did not find any evidence as to it since you treated everyone equally with kindness.
"Upon seeing that, I kept it all to myself. But when you kissed me and said that you loved me I came to realize that I did not love you…" she paused out-of-breath and was panting slightly, her heart beating so fast it was pounding in her chest. Tears in her eyes.
Albus stopped listening when she said that she developed an affection towards him and it grew stronger. He was filled with hope, only to be wrenched away when she said that she did not love him. His heart broke into a million pieces when he looked up at her to find tears in her eyes.
He blamed himself for ruining their perfect friendship; his actions had cost him the one most important thing in the world to him. Minerva, his Minerva, was never going to treat him the same. She would mask everything as if their friendship had never existed like they hardly even knew each one another and the only relationship they would ever share would be one that was professional, platonic even. He was brought out of his reverie by hand that had found its way over his left hand that rested on his knee.
She had gotten up and moved toward him with tear tracks down her cheeks, watery eyes threatening to spill. He was engulfed in his thoughts so much that he did not notice her move. His heart was aching so bad that he did not want to be near her right now. He wanted to weep and to be left alone to try desperately to mend his broken heart, but how could you mend a broken heart? He withdrew his hand from under hers and the tears fell once again.
It was her turn to have her heart broken, but she would not leave it at this she had to finish what she needed to say, she had to let him know.
"Albus… please look at me," she pleads, but he did not budge.
She was crying even harder now. She reached up to cup his face, but he evaded it.
"Albus, please look at me. Please!"
The pain in her voice was so evident that he could no longer deny her her request. Even if she broke his heart, even if he was angry with her for doing so, he could still not stand seeing or hearing her in so much pain.
When he looked at her he saw all the pain in her eyes. She reached up once more to cup his face and this time he did not move away. He let her touch him. When she calmed down a bit she spoke,
"I realized that I did not love you, but it dawned over me that I was in love with you. In fact, I still am to be honest. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Albus! I should have never—" she broke off as renewed tears came pouring out and she started to sob.
He instinctively pulled her to him, to his chest and rested his head on top of hers whispering sweet nothings and rubbing her back in soothing circles waiting for her to calm down once more when she finally did she tried to apologize once more, but he cut her off.
"Why should you apologize, my dear? You are not at any fault," he said as he kissed the top of her head. This gesture made her look up at him questioningly, but the question "Why?" died out when his lips met her once again lingering longer than the first time. When he pulled away she whimpered making him smile. She opened her eyes to see the twinkle back in his.
"I love you too, Minerva McGonagall!" he said. "I meant it the first time and I always will. You are and have always been the keeper of my heart even though I was too busy being a blithering idiot to realize it."
"And you have always held mine even when I was too busy acting like a mutton-headed dolt." They both laughed at their unusual confessions and remained in each others arms for half an hour more until they realized that they were late for breakfast. They made their way to the hall like any normal day, but it was not any other day, they had found love or more like FINALLY found each other.
The only signs that gave it all away was the wide and radiant smile on Professor McGonagall's face, the eyes of Professor Dumbledore twinkling madly, the new spring in their steps and most obvious of all they were walking arm in arm closer than ever before.