Double post as promised! Sorry for the odd chapter. It was winter and a bit gloomy when I wrote this. Is it noticeable...? :/


15 May 1997

Minerva bit her lip gently as she scanned the essay she was marking for perhaps the fourth time in the last few minutes. It was only when she had reached the end of the paper did she realise that she had been reading without understanding again.

"Useless," she muttered irritatedly, dropping her quill ungraciously onto the table. She snatched up the parchment and put it clumsily back into a yellow file that held all of the other fourth-year essays she had only just tried to start marking, unsuccessfully it seemed.

When the file was in her desk drawer again, likely to reappear on her desk the following evening so that the essays could finally be marked, Minerva breathed out slowly, rested her elbows on her desk, and put her face in her hands.

She needed to go to bed, she knew that. Yet, the prospect of entering her empty quarters was entirely unappealing — especially today, of all days.

Minerva fiddled with her wedding ring on a delicate silver chain around her neck. She sighed as her eyes then settled on the photograph of Elphinstone she had now placed on her desk. He was smiling cheerfully — his cheek against Minerva's as they squeezed together on the steps to the McGonagall manse waiting for Chloe to take the photograph.

It didn't move the photograph, Minerva preferred it that way. She looked at Finn's face, the way his skin crinkled around his eyes as he smiled and how he kept his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Minerva continued to look for several seconds until finally, breathing in sharply, she stood up and packed away her belongings.

Then, in one smooth motion, she picked up the keys to her office, her cloak and her hat, and left her office which she locked securely.

The walk through the castle halls was helpful to clear her head. She did not cross anyone apart from a few ghosts floating to and from rooms. Thankfully Peeves was not someone she encountered either as she reached the door to the Astronomy Tower; it had been a regular haunt of his these last few weeks but tonight it seemed that he was bothering the quiet and tidiness of another corridor.

Minerva climbed the steps of the tower, then perched herself on the edge so that her feet were dangling over the side of the wall. The wind brushed the stray hairs from her cheeks and made her eyes tingle and tickle as she looked, without seeing, the rolling moors.

"May I join you?"

"Oh!"

Minerva quickly wiped her eyes and turned to see Albus standing behind her. He was still wearing his travelling cloak, she noticed. It was likely he had only just returned from wherever he had been for the last week.

"I thought you would not be back until Sunday," she said, as Albus came towards her.

"I finished earlier than expected," he explained, pausing beside her and hovering as though waiting for permission, it seemed, to come and sit.

Minerva nodded silently and he settled next to her so that their shoulders were brushing. She breathed out slowly.

"Any interesting new discoveries?"

Albus pulled a face and shook his head while shrugging at the same time.

Minerva raised her eyebrows. "How descriptive," she murmured before sighing quietly and rubbing her eyes. She dropped her hands on her lap with a gentle thud. "Shouldn't you be getting a good night's rest now that you are back?"

"I wanted to see you first."

There was a brief but significant pause during which time Minerva knew Albus was thinking very carefully about his next words. To save him from these difficulties, Minerva decided to step in.

"I'm all right, Albus," she told him, turning to face him and giving a small smile that was tinged with an unspoken sadness but yet still genuine in some way. She looked away again and cleared her throat.

It wasn't often that Minerva showed what she was truly feeling. But on the anniversary of Finn's death, she was always vulnerable to giving away more than she cared to.

Albus always came to see her then, just like Minerva came to keep him company on the anniversary of Arianna's death. They always seemed to make time for each other on those days. And, Minerva had a vague notion that Albus had ended his trip early to make sure that she was not alone this night.

The wind picked up so that Minerva felt goosebumps appear on her arms. She turned her attention back to the moors and breathed out slowly, closing her eyes momentarily as she reigned in her emotions.

"Thank you," she said finally.

Albus smiled slightly too, then wrapped his arm around Minerva's shoulders. Comforted by this gesture, Minerva opened her eyes slightly, then went to rest her head on Albus' shoulder.