A penny for her thoughts – The end.

Poppy Pomfrey came into the private room of the hospital wing were Minerva was lying down, to find both the Headmaster and the potion's teacher sleeping beside her. Like if she'd awaken them with the noise of her steps, they came back to themselves and looked at each other.

"Could you see what happened to her?" the nurse wondered.

"She was attacked" Albus said.

"By a witch?"

"By a witch's cat" Severus answered.

"Excuse me?" Madam Pomfrey didn't understand anything and then Albus told her what they saw in her last memory.

"She was walking through the crowd of witches in her animagic form when another cat jumped over her"

"Trying to get rid of the animal she jumped on a tree" Severus added.

"But it didn't worked and she transfigured herself back into human to scare it"

"She did scare the cat, but its miaowing coughed the attention of some witches who noticed Minerva on the branch"

"Someone disarmed her and she felt down the tree after been touched by a hex. Finding herself with no escape she whispered a sleeping spell so she would look dead when they checked"

"Could you here the exact words?" Poppy asked.

"Something like obdormio" Severus said "Will you be able to wake her up?"

"Of course I will… I told you, she's just sleeping" Poppy approached Minerva with her wand and touched her forehead while saying "Somno suscito"

Slowly, Minerva's eyes opened and Severus left the room without being noticed.

"We thought we'd lost you" Albus said to his friend.

"I thought it too" she replied.

"Next time you want to play with sleeping spells try not to be alone, please" Poppy pointed.

"How did you manage to know which one I used?" Minerva wondered with curiosity.

"You should ask that to Dumbledore here" she answered leaving the two of them alone.

Minerva looked at Albus, who tried to avoid her eyes.

"So?" she asked.

"Well… I was very worried so… I kind of used legilimens on you" he confessed, worried of her reaction.

"Oh" and she seemed to analyze that fact for a while "Well… that's ok, I mean… we have no secrets, do we? You can't have seen anything I didn't want you to know, right?"

"Well… I didn't but…"

"What?"

"You see, I… I thought I would be able to manage it on my own but… I couldn't"

"So?"

"Severus helped"

"Severus used legilimens on me? What did he see?"

"Nothing" Albus said "I guess… We went straight to the matter when he found me lost in you memories"

But Minerva wasn't listening to him anymore, she'd rushed out from the bed and was now heading to Severus office.

He was standing in front of the little mirror hanging on the wall of his office when the door was opened noisily.

"We need to talk" she said.

"It's not there anymore" he replied.

"What are you talking about?" she asked confused "Severus, we need to talk about what you saw. I need to know what you were able to see and explain you…"

"You know what I see when I look myself on the mirror?" he kept ignoring Minerva.

"No" she answered not understanding anything.

"I see darkness. I see a grown-up man with dark hair, dark eyes and a dark soul full of very dark mistakes in his even darkest past"

"That's not what I see" she said.

"I know, I've seen how you see me and I wanted to prove myself I could see that too but, I can't"

"I'm sure you're doing something wrong"

"I'm just looking myself on the mirror, Minerva… there's no way to do that wrong"

"Trust me, you are" she approached him and stood behind him "Close your eyes" she said.

"I won't be able to see with my eyes closed"

"Do it" she said in a bossy tone and he obeyed "Now tell me what you saw in my memory"

"You were looking at me but you didn't see the darkness, you could see light through my eyes, you could see through the pain, the wrong things I did, the sadness I felt and see love…" while he talked he felt his hand being wrapped by hers and the warm of her body standing close to him. When he stopped describing what he remembered seeing in her mind he felt her breathe close to his chin and all of a sudden he felt a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"Minerva" he muttered but she silenced him with another kiss on his lips.

"Open your eyes now" she said. She was standing between him and the mirror, but he could see himself reflected on the sapphires of her eyes. "Can you see it now?"

"Minerva, why didn't you ever tell me you felt like this for me?"

"I don't know… I guess I kept saying myself it was nothing until the moment Albus told me you may had discovered everything and I felt…"

"How?"

"Worried that you may not feel the same"

"You have nothing to worry about, then" he said, and he pulled her into his embrace before kissing her softly and sweetly on her lips.

…

THE END.

A/N: I feel I have to apologize because I've totally spoiled this story. The ending has nothing to do with the beginning and let's admit it, the writing was worst at every chapter. I know when I do something wrong and this fic is totally wrong. I've tried to safe it in the best way I could without re-writing the already post parts so I hope you like it at least a little and if not, I won't blame you. The original idea was good and I just messed it up. If anyone can think on a better way this fic could have gone I give you total freedom to take that good idea and make it better in your way. I'm sorry and I really promise I'll do better in my other fics.

Thanks to those who kept reading to the end, though. I just hope you won't judge all my writing for this one. ;-)