Dumbledore spent a sleepless night, yet when he emerged into his study his eyes held their customary twinkle. The portraits immediately began yammering at him.

"Wait! Wait, please!" He held up his hands to quell the din. "Dilys, can you tell me what is going on?"

"Well, for a start," Dilys began in her usual forthright manner, "what were you thinking, letting Minerva leave like that last night? However, set that aside for a moment. Phineas Nigellus has something to tell you."

A fake snore emanated softly from Phineas's portrait.

"Phineas!" Several other voices, all indignant, joined Dilys' call.

"What?" Phineas Nigellus slowly fluttered his eyelashes. "You want me for something?"

"Tell Dumbledore what you saw last night." Dilys spoke in a tone that said she would brook no argument.

"Last night? Oh, yes, last night." Phineas mused. "Last night, while these other idiots were messing up your love life – such as it is, of course – I did a little reconnaissance. Are you aware, Headmaster, that those three escaped Death Eaters are, in fact, within my family home?"

Dumbledore looked up eagerly, but as Phineas continued his story his face became as set as stone.

"You are sure?" he asked at the end.

"Completely," Phineas confirmed smugly. "They're in the room where my portrait hangs. I saw everything."

"I shall have to inform Severus and Minerva immediately," Dumbledore said quietly. "And then I shall have to deal with Cornelius Fudge."

Severus Snape was, for once, easy to find. His face appeared in the fire only a minute after Dumbledore had cast the spell.

"Headmaster. I was just going to contact you." Snape's veneer of cynicism had been laid aside. "Professor McGonagall was right in her guess. They are in the Black house – and there is another person with them. I warded the area, but another wizard Apparated there late last night, and left a few hours later."

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "I know. Listen carefully, Severus." And he told Snape of Phineas Nigellus' findings. When he had finished Snape, for possibly the first time in his life, was left speechless.

"Guard the area," Dumbledore instructed. "Let him come and go unhampered, but make sure they do not leave the house. If they are Apparated anywhere else we may lose track of them, and all this will have been for naught."

Snape nodded dumbly.

"And Severus – if you can avoid it, do not enter the house. If the situation is anything close to what Phineas Nigellus has described, then we are dealing with a true madman. I am certain he will not hesitate to kill you to keep his secret safe."

"Professor Dumbledore," Snape's voice was almost weak with shock. "This is unbelievable."

"Yes. But it is true. That it is unbelievable simply makes it worse."

Snape nodded. "Yes."

"You fully understand my instructions?"

Again a nod.

"Then please continue. I will tell Professor McGonagall of this and we can decide the best way to go forward." Dumbledore raised his hand to the fire and Snape's flickering head. "Go safely, Severus."

The flames winked out. Dumbledore got up from the fireplace feeling a hundred years older. Now he had to face Minerva.

Her usual sixth sense of knowing when he needed her obviously wasn't working this morning, or she would have been in his study already. After a moment's thought he sent Fawkes out to look for her. The phoenix listened gravely to his request then flew straight out the window toward the Forbidden Forest. Dumbledore frowned. What could she be doing out there?

When she arrived in his study some twenty minutes later, her robe traced with mud and a liberal sprinkling of dead leaves, he asked her.

"Walking," was her short reply.

"But you hate the forest. In fact you hate anything which has the remotest connection to dirt. The pot plant I gave you for Christmas one year you Transfigured into a bottle of ink!"

"I prefer gifts which have some useful purpose. And I needed a bottle of ink."

"It was a very rare plant," he informed her gently. "Professor Sprout went into fits when she heard what you had done to it."

The response was classic acerbic McGonagall. "Then you would have done better to have given it to her!"

Dumbledore could not help himself, despite the trouble that was before them. His first real smile of the day came breaking through.

She frowned more deeply when she saw his smile and he immediately sobered, knowing the cause. "Minerva, about what occurred between us-"

"If that is what you called me here to discuss, Professor Dumbledore, then you are wasting both our times."

"It is not all I wish to discuss," he replied calmly. "There is some news I have just received which you must know – and time is short. But I feel the most important issue should be discussed first – and that issue is us."

She sighed in resignation and sat. "I apologise for-"

"Why?"

She stared at him. "Why did I kiss you?"

"No, Minerva. Why would you apologise? You must have noticed that your kiss was not unwelcome." He looked at her cautiously and said very hesitantly, "In fact, I hope… that is, I should very much like it if… if it were to happen again."

She gaped at him. "Albus Dumbledore, are you saying you would like to – court me?"

"Yes! Yes, precisely."

She watched him for a moment, and he wondered nervously just what she was seeing. Then her mouth began to lift upwards at one corner and he felt the most enormous surge of relief.

"So long as no pot plants are involved," she said thoughtfully, "then I suppose it couldn't do any harm."

"Ah. No pot plants then."

"None."

"May I take it, Professor Minerva McGonagall, that I have permission to court you?"

She inclined her head with mock gravity. "You have that permission, Professor Albus Dumbledore."

"Thank you."

"You're quite welcome."

"Oh, how romantic," snapped a disappointed Armando Dippet from his wall. "Would you two like to shake hands on it, just to conclude the deal?"

"Don't worry too much about their current formality, Armando dear," said the more tolerant Dilys Derwent. "If what we saw last night is any indication it won't last for long." She gave an earthy chuckle.

Minerva eyed the portraits frostily. "Professor Dumbledore, I am told it is customary for the courted woman to set down certain conditions for her suitor to meet in order to test his sincerity."

He considered her claim. "I have limited knowledge of such things; but yes, I believe you are right."

"Good. Then my first condition to you is that this courting business takes place as far from this study as possible!"

With a twinkle in his eyes he nodded. "I think that quite a good idea, and a condition that will be definitely met."

A muttered word issued from Dilys' portrait. It wasn't 'witch', but it sounded very much like it.

Minerva and Albus smiled at each other with a familiar shared amusement tinged by a new and rather pleasant excitement. But his smile faded quickly when he realised that despite his current happiness he could not put off telling her what Phineas had discovered any longer.

She was quick to sense his change of mood. "What else do you have to tell me, Albus?"

He sighed, reluctant. She prodded him gently. "You said that time was short."

"Yes, it is; and decisions will need to be made quickly. The three Death Eaters are indeed hidden in the Black house - but they are not alone. A fourth person is involved with them." He stopped.

She leaned forward. "Who is it?"

He spoke the name with immense reluctance. "Cornelius Fudge."