I hope that you are enjoying all the updates- thank you for staying with me but it's not over yet, still got a few ideas to include if any one is still interested!

Twelve:

Minerva held her head up to look at him and gracefully pulled her knees beneath her, her eyes never leaving his. He lowered his arm slowly to his side. She had never felt so desperate. When she had left him, she had been resolved to do so and that had driven her but now, she wanted to be with him, she knew that, she knew that much more then she ever had and she was terrified that he might stand up and walk away from her. Her breathing was erratic, to match her pounding heart as it clashed against her ribs. Never before had she been so close to misery- she needed him, she needed him so much it hurt. Seeing Hermione every day had made her realise just what she had lost and when Minerva had thought that she was in danger, she had turned to Albus. She could have gone to get her herself, she knew, but she needed Albus to be with her, to calm her- she felt so safe with him. He had always been able to soothe her, to protect her but she had fought against it for so many years. She realised now that she had to stop fighting, she had to succumb to what her mind, her heart, her body was telling her or she would waste away. She realised that it wasn't a weakness to fall in love but a strength- a strength to gather the courage to put oneself on the line, to take a chance and live with the consequences. She had gotten everything wrong, she knew, and despite Albus's words, she was terrified that it was too late.

He didn't move to touch her and so she remained completely still, though she wanted to throw herself to him and hide in his arms forever. She had missed him. That dull pain she had learned to live with for over a decade, that unrecognisable, yet familiar ache, was because she had missed him, because she had longed for him. What had she done? How could she have created this? The enormity of everything she had given up, when it had so freely been given to her, was overwhelming and tears filled her eyes. She didn't bother to try to hide them.

"I once told you something," he finally said quietly. "I once told you that you fall to your knees for nobody."

"And I once told you I would bend my knees every moment before you, if it showed you how I felt," she replied.

"Yes." He closed his eyes. "That was a lifetime ago. So much has changed... I hardly know you."

"I hardly know myself anymore."

He nodded slowly and rose to his feet. Minerva didn't move, she couldn't. She was too weak. She was sure that he was going to walk away... she wasn't worth this. She watched him as he crossed the room and locked the door, pulling the curtain in front of it. He then lit the fire and within seconds it was blazing. "Perhaps we should sit, my old knees can't lean on the hard floor for too long," he smiled and held his hand out to her. It was soft and warm and... real. He led her to the chair that she had occupied hundreds of times before and then walked around to take his own seat. "I meant what I said."

"Did you?"

"It is my turn to be sincere, I think."

Minerva nodded. She couldn't trust it, not yet. He might suddenly see sense and run a hundred miles from her, never to see her again. That was what she deserved. "Yes," was all that could travel from her dry mouth.

"I never meant to shout-"

"You had every right."

"I have no right to shout at you."

"You do, after all the mistakes that I have made."

"Minerva, the only mistake you have made is falling in love with me. I didn't cherish you as I should, I didn't do enough. I realise that now. I should have given my life so that you could be with our daughter, I should have hidden you, kept you away-"

"Riddle would have found us. We did the right thing," she said.

"I should have come back to you that night, then, at least," he sighed. "I was ashamed to face you, I thought you would hate me. I took that baby from your arms and rushed away. I thought that would be the least painful to do it, I thought that was best. But when I said goodbye and left her with the Muggles, I couldn't face you. I couldn't face your hatred, not when I was so... broken myself."

"I didn't hate you. I wanted you to grieve with me, I wanted you to come back so that we might have found some solace together. I could never hate you," she added quietly.

"Never? Not even after all that has happened between us?"

"No. I knew that even more when I saw Hermione step through those double doors. I almost fainted when I saw how beautiful she was- we created that, Albus. We made the most magnificent child and I realised that she was proof of how good we are together, proof that we were... we belonged. I watched you as much as I watched her while she was sorted. I saw the way you moved forward, it couldn't have been noticed by anyone else but I saw. I saw your expression when history repeated itself and it made me think, it made me think that we had some common ground, that we both loved her, we... And then, when you pushed me aside to get to her tonight, when you saw nothing but the path to her, I felt the same... I needed you then and you were there and that was so much more important. You might not have been there that night but you were there within moments when our daughter was in danger and that is more important than anything that I might need. I could never hate you, I never have."

"Oh, Minerva, we have been rather stupid."

"Yes, worse than children."

Albus chuckled lightly. "Much worse. Minerva, I wish that I could change things but that is beyond my power. I can make the future better, I can try to do that. I want to love you but differently, to make it work properly."

"Albus, can you forgive me? I'm the one that ended us, I'm the one that walked away-"

"There is nothing to forgive," he said quickly. " I understand your reasons, it was a dark time. Our daughter had been taken from us, we were both over wrought. But let me tell you, what I should have told you that night. I have never been more proud of you, or more in awe of as I was that night when Hermione was born. You gave me... us a beautiful child, such a wonder I could never have imagined. And added onto that, you gave her up so gracefully, with such dignity. Oh, I knew that your heart was breaking but you remained so strong, Oh, Minerva, I could never have imagined that you were so..."

"Please don't talk about that night anymore. It was the night that my life ended, that I lost everything. When I think of the night I lost our son, it pains me but I had you all through that, we had each other. The night that you took Hermione, when you didn't come back, when I said those things the next morning, I lose my whole life. I had nothing left. I can't talk about that night, it's the darkest night of my life and I'll go mad if I keep thinking about." She hung her head and began to cry softly.

"I won't say another word, unless you want to talk to me about it. Lets not dwell on those bleak moments, lets look forward, Hermione is here, we've finally overcome our mutual stupidity-"

"Does this mean that-"

"It does. I asked if you would be my wife again-"

"Yes!" She jumped up, quite forgetting herself and leapt over to him. She kissed his hands, his cheeks, his head, his eyelids before finally falling to his mouth. As he kissed her, she felt complete, she felt content. This was everything she had ever wanted, to be with him, to have him always and she knew she would spend the rest of her life with him.

"Oh, finally," he whispered as he broke away from her. He kept his arms firmly around her. "I will never let you go, I can't lose you again. Now that your mine again, and I am yours, I have everything except..."

"Except what, Albus?"

"I've been thinking, about Hermione. I've been thinking a lot actually, since I've seen her. She's a clever girl, bright, mature- everything you were at her age. Her maturity would make it easy for her to understand discretion... to understand and accept her birth. I think we should approach the subject, slowly at first, allow her to adjust... I think we could all benefit from it, it would make all of our lives... complete."

"Are you sure that is the case with her?"

"I've been observing her and she seems... lonely. She has friends, yet, good friends but she doesn't go home for holidays, she hardly gets any letters. I think she knows something isn't right, as I said she's a bright girl."

Minerva's heart danced. "Oh, if you think it could work- why! I've never deserved much happiness!"

"We'll ask her for tea tomorrow," he beamed and Minerva kissed him again.