A Sweet Summer's Night

Minerva McGonagall sank heavily onto a wooden chair in the silent and deserted staff room. The room was lit with only two burning candles, and the light outside was slowly dimming as the sun prepared for its journey around the Earth to bring dawn to another place. The flickering flames were beginning to cast faint shadows against the inanimate occupants of the room. A simple Grandfather clock in the corner ticked quietly, and a light, summer breeze blew through the partially opened window. Minerva pulled a thick stack of paperwork and marking that needed desperately to be done, and placed a quill and ink bottle down beside them. With a sigh, she uncapped the ink bottle, dipped her quill and set to work.

The hours passed by, no sound, except for the faint tick-ticking of the clock, and the quick scratching of her quill on parchment. She was reading over a sixth year's essay on the dangers and advantages of human Transfiguration, when suddenly, the clock in the corner struck twelve and loud chimes filled the air. Startled, Minerva glanced at her watch; 11:00 PM. Quite surprised that she'd been writing for nearly three hours -and indeed, hardly made a dent in her work- she hastily packed all her things back in her simple leather bag. She blew out the now dying candles and made to shut the window, but stopped. She placed her hands on the window sill and looked out, allowing the sweet, warm night air to kiss her face. She loved the summer.

She shook her head and closed the window, reminding herself of how much work she had tomorrow morning, and that she had a Hufflepuff-Slytherin class first thing. She briskly walked out the door, shutting it firmly behind her. The halls were silent -a rare thing at Hogwarts- and with the students in bed, and the professors in their respective rooms, Minerva was able to make it to her room in peace.

"Minerva? Working late, again?" a voice said from behind her, quite startling her.

"Hello? Oh, Remus!" she said with relief. "It's only you! You startled me, for a moment."

"I'm truly sorry to bother you, but there is something that I need to show you, darling, and that cannot wait until morning." Minerva gave the man before her a puzzled look.

His face was solemn, but his eyes held an amused twinkle; something was afoot, and she knew it.

"Remus," she said slowly, "what's going on?"

He smiled and took her hand.

"Nothing for you to worry about, m'dear. Just follow me, please and," he said, indicating at her leather work bag, "perhaps...do something about that bag?"

Minerva nodded slowly and shrunk the bag to fit in the pocket of her long, practical, black robes. She took his hand again without a word, and followed him down the opposite corridor.

"Remus, what's going on?"

"I rather need your permission for something, Professor McGonagall," Remus said, looking back at her for only a moment and giving her a quick, mischievous grin.

Minerva laughed.

"Remus, incase you haven't noticed, love, many years have passed since you were my student and you are grown man now. And, may I remind you, my dear, that you didn't get permission for anything then, either?"

Remus laughed out loud; it rang along corridors ahead of and behind them. Minerva smiled at his still boyish face, and his still impish grin, wondering, not for the first time, why he would love an old woman like her.

"Well, you've caught me there, but I promise you, I am not showing you any new prank that I've pulled, nor anyone's underwear that I'm planning to display. Unless of course..." He raised his eyebrows suggestively at her and grinned evilly.

"Remus!" she said, swatting his arm playfully.

"We're here," Remus said, smiling secretively.

They had reached only a simple staircase, looking utterly insignificant among the many others in the castle. The only special thing about this staircase, in fact, was a small, nearly invisible sign with an arrow pointing up. The sign said, "ASTRONOMY TOWER".

"The Astronomy tower? Remus what..."

"Hush. You'll find out soon enough."

So, the two began the climb up the stairs, finally leveling off on the highest point of the tower. There, overlooking the forest and mountains, with the lake off on the distance and a crescent moon shining above, was a small table draped in a white table cloth, and set for two.

"Remus," Minerva breathed, squeezing his hand and looking up into his smiling face.

"It's for you, love," he said, leading her forward and pulling out her chair for her.

Minerva sat down and smiled at him. He placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, and seated himself on the other side. There was a silver platter in the middle with a large, chocolate mousse on it. By looking around at the other things on the table, she realized that it was full of different kinds of desserts, mostly all chocolate. She looked up at her lover, smiling.

"Desserts...it's chocolate," she said.

Remus grinned and shrugged.

"Well, you've already had dinner and hadn't touched your apple pie, I'd noticed, so I figured you'd be liking some dessert. And plus," he said, a mischievous glint in his eye, "I know that you like chocolate."

Minerva sniffed.

"Oh, you didn't have to do all this!"

"I know I didn't. I wanted to. Come on, come on! The chocolate mousse will not eat itself." Minerva smiled and shook her head, helping herself to some mousse.

She took a small spoonful and relished the flavor of her favorite food in her mouth. She looked out over the scenic grounds and took in a deep breath of the fragrant, warm summer air.

"It's beautiful, tonight, don't you think?" she said, "Just look at that moon..."

She saw Remus's eye twitch involuntarily.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't think... of course it's not."

Remus shook his head, clearing away the horrible memories.

"No," he said quietly, "No, it's beautiful it really is." He turned to Minerva, a serious look on his face. "So are you. If I could, I'd keep you forever; just here, tonight, looking at the moon together... it's all beautiful. Here, try some of these..." he said, indicating at the many miniature platters, all with small silver covers on them.

She lifted the lid off the first one, and revealed a tray of small raspberry cream-filled chocolate truffles. She took one and smiled biting into it and savoring the sweet taste of the chocolate on her tongue.

"Here, try another one," he said, handing her another tray.

He looked up at her almost anxiously and bit his lip a little bit. Puzzled, she lifted the lid of the tray, and gasped, nearly dropping the whole thing. Under the lid, was a small, blue velvet box, opened to reveal a simple but beautiful gold and diamond ring. Minerva felt herself choke up, the hot, prickling tears springing into her eyes and threatening to pour out. Remus was on his knee beside her, a solemn look on his face.

"Minerva, I've loved you for what seems to be an eternity, and I want to make sure that I will have you to love for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?"

The tears poured down Minerva's face and she sniffed. This was the most beautiful thing that anyone had ever said to her.

"Oh Remus!" she choked. "I love you, so much! Yes, I will! I will, I will, I will!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck and crying tears of happiness.

"I'm so happy," he murmured.

Minerva leaned back from him, pulling him to his feet. She looked him seriously in the eye.

"Could you ever love an old woman like me?" Remus tucked a stray lock of ebony hair back behind her ear and kissed her soundly on the lips.

"You aren't old. 50 is the prime of a witch's life, and you're the prime of mine. I'm old! I'm 40 years old!" he laughed.

Minerva sniffed again and wiped her eyes, smiling through her tears.

"I'm not much of a cook, I'm afraid," she said, laughing.

"Well then, " he said, embracing her in his strong arms, "our first wedding gift will be a cook book."

She looked into his face, seeing his eyes shining unshed tears. He smiled and looked into her eyes.

"I can't wait for the rest of our lives," he whispered.

She leaned into him and kissed him passionately on the lips. He reached towards her, removing her rectangular spectacles and pulling the confining pins from her hair. Under the stars, amidst a summer breeze that wafted through the trees and blew through her now free, black hair, they knew that two people, at least, would live happily ever after.