Team: Puddlemere United

Position: Seeker

Prompt: McGonnagalls

Word Count: 924

Minerva McGonagall always got pretty giddy—at least by her standards—when the time for holidays arrived.

Most students and staff members suspected that she was simply glad to be rid of her numerous responsibilities for a little while. They weren't wrong, but they also didn't know all of the reasons. The most major one was one of those missing.

Just like every other time, Minerva had collected her things and said goodbye to most of her colleagues before the students had even begun boarding the Express, so she was pretty much good to go the second every student was gone.

After exchanging some parting words with the last few staff members and hugging a few of them—like Pomona and Filius—she apparated away, her trunk already shrunken inside her pocket.

She landed in front of the door of a fence that surrounded a near overgrown garden. It didn't look like it had been ignored; the placement of the plants all seemed very deliberate.

Minerva's face adopted a small smile as she followed the small, curvy path and observed the changes that had happened since the last time she had had a chance to come here. There seemed to be a new apple tree that promised a good harvest later that year and also many more plants that Minerva couldn't name.

Plants weren't really her thing, which was good, since the garden would probably be dead if it was her project.

Then, the cottage finally came into view. The old windows all looked like they had been cleaned fairly recently and the front door was now painted in a strong red tone, not unlike the color of Gryffindor.

And there, on the wooden, double-seat swing set, was her wife Sariose reading a book and—presumably—waiting for her. She wasn't as tall as Minerva was, but she made up with that with her smile that seemed to make her grow every time. Sariose's blonde hair was pulled back in a bun, but it wasn't even close to as tight as Minerva's usually were and a few strands of hair escaped on either side of her head.

"Honey, I'm home!" Minerva said softly, placing herself next to her wife.

Sariose looked up.

"Min! You're here!" she exclaimed as she pulled Minerva into a tight hug.

"Yes, I am," Minerva whispered, gently patting her wife on the back. "But I still need to breathe."

"Oh, sorry," Sariose apologised, letting go of her entirely.

"That's not what I intended, darling," Minerva chuckled. "Now c'mere and let me kiss you."

"With pleasure," Sariose leaned towards her.

A few hours later, they were eating the dinner they had cooked together. It had taken them a hour or two, but they had so much fun doing it that the result could have been horrible and it would be time well spent.

But it wasn't. And with the candles that Minerva had lit, the romantic atmosphere was perfect in their eyes.

"You know," Minerva commented between two bites. "I never thought I would say this, but this might be better than the food of the elves."

"That's just because you cooked it yourself, girl." Sariose shook her head. "Otherwise the food of these elves of yours would be better, I tell you."

"If you say so," Minerva replied with a teasing smile.

Sariose pointed towards Minerva with her fork. "Yes, I do, in fact, say so."

"You're the expert."

"That's right, I am."

Later that evening, the two of them were lying on the couch together. Minerva had her arm around her wife.

The two of them were watching some sort of telenova or something, Minerva didn't really pay enough attention to figure that out.

As far as she was concerned, pretty much anything could have been playing on the TV right now. That was the least of her worries right now, since it was a background noise at most.

All of her attention was focused on her wife who she hadn't seen in so long.

"I really need to get our chimney connected to the floo or something, so that you could visit on weekends."

"Oh yes." Sariose nodded repeatedly. "That seems to be a great solution, since I'm not letting this house go and you need to be there for your students."

"I'm pretty sure we could move the cottage and the garden closer to Hogwarts if we really wanted to."

"I like it here, though," Sariose pointed out. "The smell of the sea just reaches us and here it's warm enough to go swimming. At least in the summer. And I'm also not sure if the plants would survive that."

"I know," Minerva chuckled. "I just wanted to remind you that it is an option."

"Sometimes, I consider it," Sariose said after a small pause. "But if you get to live your passion and teach, then I get to live my passion as well."

"Of course you do, honey," Minerva assured her. "I didn't mean to suggest anything else."

"I know that you didn't, darling. That was always more of a comment for the side of me that doesn't know how to stand up for itself."

"A small side, I'm sure," Minerva replied. "Since I don't recall you ever letting anyone make decisions for you."

"Neither do you," Sariose pointed out. "Not outside the bedroom at least," she conceded.

"Speaking of bedroom," Minerva trailed off, but both women knew exactly what her intention was.

"I thought you'd never ask," Sariose replied with a grin, standing up and keeping her wife's hand. "Come on."

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