Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews - its so encouraging to read your comments.
BansheeGirl: I promise their will be some ADMM romance but I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a while before the story reaches that point!
For now...hereare the next two chapters.Enjoy (I hope)!
The following evening Minerva slipped into the transfiguration classroom, carrying her chess set.
"Good evening, Miss McGonagall," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Good evening, Professor," she replied.
"Pull up a chair," he invited her with a gesture, "And set out the board. I will arrange us some refreshment. Do you like hot chocolate?"
"I don't know, Professor, I've never tried it."
"You must," he exclaimed, "Its wonderful! I have a bit of a sweet tooth, you know."
He was rewarded with another of her rare smiles and hastily prepared the drink before turning to press it into her hands. She sipped cautiously and settled in her chair, ready for the game.
"Playing chess with Albus became a regular pastime of mine," Professor McGonagall explained with a small smile. "We played almost every evening, often until after I should have returned to Gryffindor tower. Luckily, Albus gave me a small pot of floo powder and permission to floo between the fireplace in his office and the Gryffindor common room, as long as nobody else noticed of course."
Arthur Weasley smiled, "I'm sure Dumbledore always sees the rules more as things to take into consideration when making decisions than actually things to be adhered to."
"He does," sighed Minerva, "Honestly, you should try working closely with the man; he's such a child at times."
The other occupants of the room exchanged smiles and laughter at this, many of them knowing of McGonagall's frequent frustration with the man, and those who had already heard the story, knowing something more.
"Were they always like that to you, Professor?" asked Hermione softly, "The other students I mean."
"No, they came to accept me in time. Not really in my first year but, in my second year I began to find friends in Gryffindor."
Molly interrupted her with another question, her voice filled with concern.
"What about your family, dear?" she asked gently, "Did they eventually accept it?"
McGonagall shook her head, and for a minute Hermione, who was sitting closest, felt certain she saw tears in McGonagall's eyes.
"They made their feelings clear when I returned home in the summer," she answered softly and poked the pensieve once more.