Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is not mine. Especially in later chapters when I may quote the books.

A/N: I know this part is a bit sappy, but even if you don't ship AD/MM keep reading, the rest will be center more on Harry. (If you truly hate AD/MM and you're going to flame me anyway then save yourself the trouble, flames just make me laugh and I'm not lacking for entertainment right now.)

Prologue – July, 1981

Albus Dumbledore was on his way home from a mission with the Order of the Phoenix. He had been traveling for days trying to find out where Voldemort was hiding, but every tip they'd had turned out to be a false lead. He was exhausted, the kind of exhausted he could feel all the way into his bones, and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. Albus had also had a lot of time to think on his journey and he had spent all of it thinking about one person. About Minerva McGonagall. She was his Deputy and one of his oldest and dearest friends, but lately they seemed to have grown even closer. Something about this war had brought about a change in their relationship, nothing he could name but a sort of physical freedom. Nothing truly intimate, but hands lingered longer on arms, they had started hugging more frequently, and before he left earlier this week Minerva had leaned up and kissed his cheek lightly while telling him to be careful. He had known when this all started that he could never bear to lose her and thus had avoided putting her in danger if possible even though she was willing to fight on the front lines as it were, but somehow the constant threat hanging over them had caused the two to turn to each other in a way that was beyond friendship yet still undefined. Albus had thought of Minerva every night he was away from her; he found himself wishing she were there to talk to and wanting to feel her hugging him again. As he made his way home, Albus came to a decision. He wasn't going to do anything dramatic, just keep this new dynamic with Minerva going, maybe slowly push it towards a romantic relationship. He checked his watch, it was before midnight maybe Minerva would still be awake and he could see her before going to bed.

He entered the nearly empty castle and headed straight for Minerva's room. There was no answer to his knock, so Albus let himself in and then he stood on the threshold watching her. Minerva had fallen asleep in a chair in front of the empty fireplace and a book had fallen onto the floor near her feet. He quietly watched her sleeping for a few minutes before moving toward her, intending to pick her up and take her to bed. As he approached, Minerva jerked awake and looked at him.

"Albus?" she asked sleepily. "Are you really back?"

He knelt down in front of her chair, taking her hands in his and nodded. Minerva threw her arms around his neck and slid down to the floor next to him.

"Thank goodness, I was so worried," she told him.

Albus looked at her closely, there were dark circles under her eyes and she looked even thinner than before he had left. "Minerva, have you slept at all while I was away?"

She looked at the floor and confessed that she hadn't been sleeping well, that every time she had tried to sleep she had nightmares about him finding Voldemort and getting killed. He looked at her sadly and suggested she get some sleep now.

"Will...will you stay?" she asked shyly, not meeting his gaze.

Albus leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I would like nothing better."

He transfigured his dirty and tattered robes into pajamas and the two of them made their way into the bedroom, curling up close together under the covers for the best night of sleep either had had in a long time.

Since that night, their relationship continued to evolve slowly into something more romantic. Neither had made an open declaration of love, but it could be felt between them. Whenever he could, Albus would sleep in Minerva's room, just holding her tightly to him and enjoying the comfort of having her slim frame lying next to him. All the feelings that were left unspoken were communicated in light kisses and soft touches whenever the two were alone. To the rest of the world they appeared as they always had, good friends who worked well together, but for the two of them a large weight of loneliness had been lifted.