Please forgive me for the short (and late) chapter this week! Working two jobs and going to uni is hard work!

Also, thanks for the lovely reviews for the last chapter. I really really really appreciate them! :)

Hope everyone is doing ok :) Again, would love to know what you think!


29 May 1994

Minerva went upstairs and took the last three ceramic pots from the bathroom. Currently, she was back in her small cottage in Hogsmeade. Sirius had moved out earlier that week due to concerns regarding his safety there. As Minerva and Albus had predicted, the Ministry had sent Aurors to investigate several uninhabited cottages in Hogsmeade to see if Sirius Black was hiding there. It had been a worrying day when the Aurors had come to search the village. Fortunately, Sirius, who had now taken residency somewhere even Albus and Minerva knew not, had not been found.

Now, Minerva was tidying the cottage and packing up most of the belongings she had left there in 1985. She put the pots into a cardboard box, then came downstairs. Albus was waiting for her in the living room. She had bumped into him on her way to the cottage; he had explained that he had just been to visit Aberforth. Seeing as they were both going to go back to the castle anyway, Albus had offered to wait for her while she sorted out a few things at the cottage.

Minerva cleared her throat as she came into the room, and set down the box. Albus looked up from his interlocked fingers and gave her a smile which Minerva answer, though it did not quite reach her eyes. She then straightened her back and winced slightly; regretting that she had not just magicked the box downstairs.

"Oh," she said, hearing one of her bones pop. She rubbed the offending area and pursed her lips as she also magicked the last cardboard boxes to come together into a neat pile. With another careful look at her boxes, she then clicked her fingers and the cardboard boxes disappeared instantly.

She then turned to look at the empty living room. She had left all of the furniture, seeing as she did not need any additional chairs or tables in her private quarters at Hogwarts. Everything else, however, she had taken down and put away in the boxes. She would sort through them herself later on; after almost 10 years it was high time she did, Minerva thought to herself.

She looked back at Albus who had raised an eyebrow.

"I have sent them to my quarters," she explained. "I shall not be returning to the cottage again, so I thought it best that I clear it out," she added.

"What will you do with it?" he asked her.

Minerva sighed. "Rosmerta assured me that she knows of several families who would be interested in living here, should I choose to sell. And, I am quite certain that I will. It has been 9 years, Albus," she added tiredly. "Sirius is in no need of the cottage anymore. It is most likely too dangerous for him to return here anyway. And," she added, "I am in no need of it either."

"After all this time, my dear?" he said.

"I am selling it precisely for that reason, Albus," she said. "Finn always told me how beautiful this cottage could be," she said. "He had envisioned something quite lovely happening. If things were different, it might have happened. But, things are not different and realistically I will not be able to achieve what Finn and I wanted, on my own. By selling I will be giving another family the opportunity to build something."

Albus nodded however he was looking at her in a peculiar way. As though trying to make out if Minerva really was selling for the reasons she had described, or because she still could not bear having anything or being anywhere near a place where memories of Elphinstone were so strong. And though Minerva had told herself several times that she was selling the cottage for the former reason, in fact, it was most likely a mixture of both the former and the latter.

Indeed, when she had come to visit Sirius in the cottage, Minerva had noticed a persistent and particularly annoying dull ache settle in her chest. She had thought that after all of this time she might have felt more comfortable in the cottage - but it seemed not. The loss of Elphinstone and the life they had and could have continued to lead still pained Minerva as much as if the event had only happened last week rather than 9 years ago.

Minerva cleared her throat. "It is the right decision, Albus," she said firmly, "for me." She held his gaze then finally looked away and retrieved some keys from the mantelpiece. "We best head back," she said. "Breakfast will be over soon."

Albus nodded and stood up. With one last look around the cottage, Minerva took a deep breath then stepped out into the morning sun. She closed the door once Albus had stepped out as well, and locked it. Then, both Albus and Minerva walked down the cobbled pathway and made their way to Hogsmeade.

Minerva put her hands in her pockets, and they strolled in silence until they had made their way up the hill and through the winged boar gates delineating the entrance onto Hogwarts' grounds.

"I shall see you this evening, Minerva," Albus said, as they stepped through the great oak doors and into the Entrance Hall. He placed a hand on her arm and smiled.

Minerva nodded and smiled slightly back, though it did not quite reach her eyes. "See you soon, Albus," she replied.