Whoops! Sorry for the late update! I forgot it was Wednesday yesterday :/


1 March 1997

Minerva was back in her office after making sure with Poppy that Ronald Weasley was going to recover form the poisonous substance he had consumed earlier that evening. She had then spoken to Mr and Mrs Weasley for quite some time before then spending the best part of 20 minutes lecturing Romilda Vane on the dangers of using love potions, a banned substance at Hogwarts. The Gryffindor ended up receiving several detentions.

Now, several hours later, Minerva was back in her quarters. However, not for the first time that year, she found sleep elusive. Tonight it was a combination of recent events that continued to haunt her thoughts, but also the fact that she was nursing a quite persistent and tiresome headache along with uncomfortable chest pain. The latter seemed to be a direct result of the stunners from the previous year. Minerva had thought that the side-effects would be long gone by this point, yet it seemed not.

Another hour passed and finally, Minerva had to accept defeat. Her headache had only grown worse and she was no closer to sleep than she had been 3 hours ago when she had first got into bed.

Minerva slipped her legs out from under her duvet and placed her feet on the rug that covered the cold stone floor. She sighed, though it became more of a groan, and she placed her head in her hands and sat for several minutes on the side of her bed, feeling slightly ill.

Insomnia had never been something she had had to deal with before. Indeed, usually, it had been Finn who had trouble sleeping. He would wake up several times in the night until, during the early hours of the morning, he would finally get up and quietly creep downstairs so that he could sit outside in the garden and watch the sunrise. He would always have some tea ready in the morning for Minerva, who would join him ten minutes later — though her sleep was usually undisturbed unlike Elphinstone, she was still an early riser and always had been.

Elphinstone had told her that sometimes reading a book, or going for a walk, would help. He would read his gardening books, usually purchased based on recommendations from Pomona. Minerva had kept his small collection after she had left the cottage. Recently, she had been doing the same and, some of the time, she had found it to help.

Just as Minerva was about to reach over for a book, which also happened to be Finn's favourite, she heard a gentle knock on her door. Minerva's eyebrows knit together in a puzzled frown, thinking for a moment that she had imagined it. But the faint knock came again and this time Minerva stood up, closing her eyes for a moment as she pressed her hand on her bedpost for support.

She took a deep shuddering breath as her heart twinged painfully in her chest and her head throbbed quite irritatingly. Then she pulled on her dressing gown before going to the door.

The visitor turned out to be Albus, not a student in need of assistance.

"I hope I did not wake you?" he asked when Minerva opened the door.

Minerva privately thought that that was not entirely true. At this hour it was likely that she would have been asleep. But then Albus knew that she had not been sleeping well as they had met on several occasions during the middle of the night, walking through the castle - Minerva had also put into practice Elphinstone's other tip of going for a walk when she could not sleep. Clearly, Albus had also been practising that solution.

Minerva shook her head and the tips of her hair tickled her elbows reminding her that she needed to get a haircut soon. She tucked her black hair behind her ears.

"You did not," she replied truthfully. "Can't sleep?"

"I am afraid I have found sleep to have escaped me yet again," he said.

Minerva smiled slightly. "I am finding myself in a similar predicament tonight," she said. "Do you want to come in?"

He smiled gratefully and nodded. Minerva opened the door to let him into the small living room. She lit the fire with an effortless wave of her hand, as the castle was still quite chilly even at this time of year, and then sat down in one of the red armchairs.

"Poppy has assured me that Weasley will make a full recovery," she said, assuming what it was that was on Albus' mind. She paused for a moment. "What did Horace tell you?"

"Nothing more than Harry has already told us both this evening," Albus replied tiredly.

"The mead was meant for you, not Weasley," Minerva sighed. "That boy is lucky to be alive," she added, turning cold at the thought of how this day could have gone if things had been different.

"It was fortunate Harry was there," Albus agreed.

Minerva shook her head. "No need to tell me that," she said. "He saved Mr Weasley's life. We should all be grateful that Potter was able to put his potions knowledge into use. He really seems to have improved," she added, thinking of the better Potions reports Potter was currently getting.

"Horace is a good teacher," Albus said, with a shrug.

"Or maybe it is because he does not scare his students half to death," Minerva added,

Albus smiled weakly. "Perhaps," he admitted quietly. He seemed increasingly distracted, and slowly it dawned on Minerva that perhaps this was not what he had wanted to talk about in the first place. It was true that they had already spoken about this evening's events together, so there did not seem more to add now unless they wanted their conversation to go round in circles.

Minerva watched her friend for a moment. She tilted her head slightly so that she could see his eyes looking pensively into the flames in her fireplace. "Albus?"

Albus looked startled, then looked back at her, raising his white eyebrows.

"Are you all right?"

"Of course, my dear," he replied, though the look in his eyes betrayed him. Clearly knowing that they had, Albus quickly looked away. This only worried Minerva even more - usually her friend had a particular knack for hiding his emotions.

"Only it is almost half past midnight," Minerva added, trailing away and raising her eyebrows expectantly.

He looked suddenly guilty for a moment. "I know, my dear," he said, "I apologise. Did I wake you?" he asked again.

Minerva shook her head again, too. "I was already awake," she reassured him once more. He frowned and Minerva waved her hand dismissively. "Bit of a headache," she admitted. "Not entirely helpful when one is also a bit of an insomniac."

Albus gently shook his head. "No, I expect not," he commented thoughtfully.

Minerva swallowed, then cocked her head. "Are you sure you are all right, Albus? You seem...troubled."

"Do I?"

Minerva nodded. "You have been for quite some time."

Albus looked away and a long silence followed. Minerva finally leaned forwards.

"Albus, your secrets—"

"Minerva—"

"Your secrets, Albus," Minerva insisted, "whatever they may be... You will have to speak of them one day. It is not doing you any good."

"I cannot tell you, Minerva."

Minerva watched him. Then, she sighed and looked away. "I know. I believe we have had this conversation before. Many times."

She pursed her lips slightly, thinking, then stood up. Albus raised his eyebrows at her.

"Hot chocolate, Albus?" she asked. She gently smiled to show that she was not angry. There would be time to quiz him later, she thought.

He looked stunned for a moment, then he too smiled. "What a wonderful idea, my dear."

Minerva held out her hand and helped him up. They then looped arms with each other and began to leave her office.

"I think there were some delicious biscuits too, at dinner. There might be some left."

Minerva shook her head. "That is too much, Albus," she said.

He smiled and rested his good hand on top of hers. Perhaps once they were settled downstairs in the kitchens he might reveal what it was that had been on his mind since the beginning of the year, she thought to herself.