Post by childminerva on Oct 19, 2006 14:28:19 GMT -5
Title: The Last Time
Rated: K-safe for everyone
Summary: After that fateful night on the tower, only one person thought to look for Minerva and find out what was on her mind. Oneshot.
-------
It was Arthur Weasley who found her, hunched up in a corner of her classroom. Of all the people with aching hearts that night, it was Arthur that moved past his own troubles and thought to look for her.
“Minerva?”
Arthur peered into the unlit classroom and would have moved on to look elsewhere had he not heard the ragged sigh that emanated from the darkness. With a flick of his wand, the classroom was bathed in light and he was able to see the woman sitting on the floor.
Minerva McGonagall was still wearing the robes from her duel and the graze across her cheek from a stray spell had yet to be treated. A few wisps of gray from her primarily black hair surrounded her pale face as Arthur sank down next to her and looked at her sadly.
“Oh God, Minerva,” he said softly, “ I’m so sorry.”
“Me too,” she whispered so quietly that Arthur could barely make out the words.
“Are they gone?” he asked after a moment. “Scrimgeour and the rest?”
Minerva nodded but did not speak and the two of them sat in silence for nearly a quarter of an hour. Finally Minerva spoke again and her voice was so raw with pain and helplessness that Arthur almost covered his ears in a desire to drown it out.
“He was gone so much this past year and even in the past few weeks. We were both so preoccupied with everything going on that we just weren’t together much. I can’t even remember the last time we touched.”
There were no tears as she spoke. Minerva had yet to cry.
“I remember our first kiss very clearly and nearly every moment of our thirty-five married years, but I can’t remember the last time he told me he loved me or even our last kiss.”
Her last words were spoken forcefully and she choked as her breathing became labored. Arthur slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him as she tried to control her breathing.
At that moment Arthur Weasley was sad and angry and afraid, but despite all that he was also intensely happy, a burning relieved happiness that came from the fact that his family was alive. Dangerously, painfully alive. All seven children and his wife were still breathing and though Bill had narrowly escaped a feral werewolf attack, he was now facing his wedding and the rest of his life with the woman he loved. Alive.
Arthur struggled with the guilt he felt now. There he sat with his relief while the woman in his arms was left with a broken heart facing the rest of her days without the one she loved.
“I would give anything for the power to help you Minerva,” he whispered truthfully.
“I just wish I could remember,” she said softly, “I know it’s such a silly thing to want after all that’s happened; I should care more about where he went tonight or his last words…but all I want is to remember our last kiss.”
Arthur leaned back and rested his head against the wall as he felt her tears slipping through the fabric of his shirt while a single tear slid down his face.
“That’s not silly at all.”
------
What Minerva could not know was that many hours earlier, as she slept, her husband of thirty-five years leaned over her with a tear sliding down into his long silver beard.
“Minerva, I’m so very sorry for what is coming.”
Before turning away to leave once more he pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.
“I love you.”
The End.
Rated: K-safe for everyone
Summary: After that fateful night on the tower, only one person thought to look for Minerva and find out what was on her mind. Oneshot.
-------
It was Arthur Weasley who found her, hunched up in a corner of her classroom. Of all the people with aching hearts that night, it was Arthur that moved past his own troubles and thought to look for her.
“Minerva?”
Arthur peered into the unlit classroom and would have moved on to look elsewhere had he not heard the ragged sigh that emanated from the darkness. With a flick of his wand, the classroom was bathed in light and he was able to see the woman sitting on the floor.
Minerva McGonagall was still wearing the robes from her duel and the graze across her cheek from a stray spell had yet to be treated. A few wisps of gray from her primarily black hair surrounded her pale face as Arthur sank down next to her and looked at her sadly.
“Oh God, Minerva,” he said softly, “ I’m so sorry.”
“Me too,” she whispered so quietly that Arthur could barely make out the words.
“Are they gone?” he asked after a moment. “Scrimgeour and the rest?”
Minerva nodded but did not speak and the two of them sat in silence for nearly a quarter of an hour. Finally Minerva spoke again and her voice was so raw with pain and helplessness that Arthur almost covered his ears in a desire to drown it out.
“He was gone so much this past year and even in the past few weeks. We were both so preoccupied with everything going on that we just weren’t together much. I can’t even remember the last time we touched.”
There were no tears as she spoke. Minerva had yet to cry.
“I remember our first kiss very clearly and nearly every moment of our thirty-five married years, but I can’t remember the last time he told me he loved me or even our last kiss.”
Her last words were spoken forcefully and she choked as her breathing became labored. Arthur slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him as she tried to control her breathing.
At that moment Arthur Weasley was sad and angry and afraid, but despite all that he was also intensely happy, a burning relieved happiness that came from the fact that his family was alive. Dangerously, painfully alive. All seven children and his wife were still breathing and though Bill had narrowly escaped a feral werewolf attack, he was now facing his wedding and the rest of his life with the woman he loved. Alive.
Arthur struggled with the guilt he felt now. There he sat with his relief while the woman in his arms was left with a broken heart facing the rest of her days without the one she loved.
“I would give anything for the power to help you Minerva,” he whispered truthfully.
“I just wish I could remember,” she said softly, “I know it’s such a silly thing to want after all that’s happened; I should care more about where he went tonight or his last words…but all I want is to remember our last kiss.”
Arthur leaned back and rested his head against the wall as he felt her tears slipping through the fabric of his shirt while a single tear slid down his face.
“That’s not silly at all.”
------
What Minerva could not know was that many hours earlier, as she slept, her husband of thirty-five years leaned over her with a tear sliding down into his long silver beard.
“Minerva, I’m so very sorry for what is coming.”
Before turning away to leave once more he pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.
“I love you.”
The End.
xXx 
Angst makes me sad.
