Being brave and being strong doesn't mean being alone
Minerva's boots crunched along the gavel, her summer robes swinging along her ankles as the strolled along the lake. It was more peaceful here in the summer when the children weren't here, but it also gave the grounds a peculiar eeriness. Hogwarts had been built to home children and never felt entirely complete without them. It was good of Albus to allow her to stay here even during the summers though (never too early to begin lesson planning, she would insist to the other professors, not wanting to admit there was nowhere else to call home). It was good too of Elphinstone to visit her.
It had been nearly thirty years since she had worked under him at the Ministry. So much had changed, with the both of them, yes, but also with the world as a whole. Most of it for the better if you asked her. Still he had kept in contact all these years, sending her an owl at least once a month, coming to visit her during her breaks from school or else inviting her to stay with him. Though his marriage proposals grew a bit weary, he had also never tossed her aside for scorning him. As she looked at him in the bright sunlight, the realization struck her as clear as the sky above. He was a good man. And she was incredibly lucky to have him in her life.
“You know Minerva, I really do wish you would agree to marry me.”
It wasn't the first time he'd said such a thing to her. He wasn't even the first to propose marriage to her. But Dougal was gone now, Malcolm had sent the owl not long after Robbie's death. She had grieved briefly for the man who had never truly been hers before asking herself why exactly she had allowed a long since broken connection to hold her back.
With the smallest of wry smiles on her lips she replied back. “If I say yes, will you stop asking me?”
“Well that would defeat the purpose of needing to ask, wouldn't it?” The smile on his lips was just as mischievous. He understood her offbeat sense of humor and always shot it back at her without missing a beat. It was one of the things she treasured about him. But only one of them, her heart reminded her.
“Then yes, I will marry you.”
“Only you would say yes to marriage just to shut someone up,” warm, soft laughter poured out of him as he looked down at his shoes. It wasn't until he looked up at her, with the same steady admiration for her that was always present in his eyes, he realized she had stopped walking and was looking at him. She could feel the emotion in her own eyes. Happy. Anticipatory. Loving. And just a hint of nervousness. “...Minerva- Minerva you're really serious aren't you?”
“When have you known me not to be serious,” she responded back, a wide smile beginning to stretch across her lips.
“Minerva. Minn. You'll really marry me?”
“I would love to.” For once she allowed him to pull her in and give her a deep kiss, one she returned, a strange feeling buzzing in her bones. Happiness, she realized, it was happiness.
His face dropped in sudden worry and she felt her heart sink. “You know- you know you don't have to do this. Not if you don't want to.”
“And when have you known me to do anything I don't want to?”
“Never,” there was a beat while he smiled and held her close. “Why?” he finally asked quietly, “why say yes this time.”
She felt a somber quietness fall over her. She didn't even realize that she was playing with his hair, rolling the thin, wispy strands in her fingertips. “When Robbie died you came with me to tell mum and papa and Malcolm.”
“Of course I went with you.”
And he had. The moment he heard word that she'd told the Ministry she would deliver the news of her brother's murder to the rest of her family, he had showed up and offered to join her for the journey northward.
“Really Elphin, I can do it on my own.”
“Of course you can Minnie. I don't doubt that you can, no one would. But that doesn't mean you should.”
“Being brave and being strong doesn't mean being alone.”
That one little conversation had shown just how well he knew her. And then he had gone with her. Held her hand the entire train ride (sure the could have apparated, easily within the ability of both wizards, or used floo powder, but Robbie had loved the trains, it was a way to honor him) and not once even complained about taking Muggle transportation. He had gone into the field to fetch Malcolm while Minerva struggled to make small talk with her parents. He had gently rested his hand on her back as she told them. He hadn't said a word when she marched into her childhood bedroom, cast a silencing spell on the walls, and began to sob. He had just held her silently, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head but never once the entire trip pushing for more. He never had. He always respected her. He always saw her for who she was and loved her still. She only wished it hadn't taken losing Robbie to see that.
“No. Not ‘of course you did.’ No one else did. The only other one to offer Albus and even he let it be the moment I said I could do it alone. You were the only one Elphinstone. You were the only one to be there for me. You can never imagine how much that meant to me Elph.” This time it was her to initiate the kiss, allowing it to grow and linger for several minutes. “So yes, I will marry you. On one condition.”
“Of course there's a condition,” he teased, but the happiness in his voice made her own heart warm.
“I'm keeping my last name. I am after all the only McGonagall left in the wizarding world now.”
He laughed, shaking his head, “well after all this time, I think that's a small price to pay.”
She smiled and kissed him again. She was brave and she was strong, but she wasn't alone any more.
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