It was a brand new day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Christmas was coming and snow was covering the Courtyard and the fields. The staff and remaining students were still waking up, but the waking of Minerva and Albus Dumbledore was a bit different from the rest.
An owl came through the opened window and landed on bed where the two bodies of the Headmaster and his Deputy and wife rested peacefully. The owl proceeded to remove the blankets from their bodies and peck their legs a bit, nothing that would hurt them. It actually tickled. Minerva was the first to wake up. She noticed something on the bed. She sat and reached for the glasses on her night table. She opened her eyes to get them used to the light and then she saw a beautiful big barn owl on her legs, looking at her with curious eyes. Minerva proceeded to remove the letter the animal was carrying in its beak.
"It's too early for mail..." she said.
She opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.
"Dear mother and father
I really miss you both. I guess I never liked to be alone in Winter. Studying dragons in this season is quite agreeable but it's terribly lonely. All my colleagues are gone for Christmas to be with their parents and families and I haven't seen you for quite a while. I understand that father and you are busy even in Christmas but I thought I could come by and visit you this time. I have something to tell you. I hope you two are well and in good health.
Lots of love,
Vivian.
PS: I arrive in the 23th, so you might want to keep Lottie with you. Please feed her, she came all the way from Hungary to deliver the letter, the poor dear."
"Albus!" said Minerva, shaking him.
"Hum..." he muttered.
"Albus, old coot, our daughter is coming!"
Albus sat in bed, reached for his glasses and took the letter from Minerva's hands.
"What?" he inquired.
"She's coming for Christmas!" said, Albus in awe.
"She hasn't spend Christmas with us since she finished her seventh year here!"
"We have seen her every three years, she has been kind enough to show up and say 'hi' but this is…quite a surprise!" he said.
"Do you think she's ill?" asked Minerva.
"Don't be an alarmist, Minerva, our girl is just fine! She's always been the face of health. She's perfectly grand."
"It seems a very logical explanation, after all, you just said yourself. I hope you're right, I hope she's fine...What if she's in trouble? She has this tickling taste for trouble, very like her father."
"And a wonderful Scottish temper and Gryffindor bravery when it comes to get herself out of them which I think she inherited from her mother. So it seems to me that we both did our jobs!" he said smiling.
Minerva let a little laugh fly free. Then, she put the letter in her night table, near a frame with a moving sepia photograph of a little girl with a toy dragon in her hands, a very astute and clever smile, intelligent and kind eyes and very long hair. The whole room displayed many portraits of the girl and her evolution from a lovely little girl to a dashing young woman, sometimes with her mother, sometimes with her father, or even both.
There is even one of a younger version of Minerva McGonagall holding a wee baby in her arms, covered in blankets with little baby dragons printed on it. There is also a not so younger version of Albus Dumbledore holding a toddler and kissing her and tickling her face with his beard. There is only one photograph of Albus and Minerva's wedding. Albus has his arms around her waist and keeps joining his face to hers to give her a very tender kiss that makes her laugh every time.
Minerva sat there for some time admiring her little girl.
"I miss my little girl... She's been away for so long, that mad child. Why couldn't her just be still and find a job at the ministry or accept a job here and have a calm cosy life? Why did she have to go to Hungary and study bloody dragons?"
"Well, Minerva, she was more ambitious that we were. We sit every day, teach and do paperwork. She didn't want to do that. Simple!"
"What's wrong about paperwork? At least you don't burn yourself! Have you seen the scars in her hands? A dragon almost chopped her finger once! She rides an acromantula! I would be considerably less worried if she did paperwork instead!"
"Minerva! She likes it! Let her be!"
"I simply can't understand this child's mind...I refuse to understand why my little girl has this proclivity for...peril. I think we let her spend too much time with Hagrid in the past!" she said. Albus laughed.
"She knows what she's doing; don't fuss about it, dear. There are worse things in life. The one thing we should concentrate in is that we are going to see her again and spend the best Christmas with her."
"Yes...I guess we will. Now let's get dressed and go down to breakfast. And I have to feed Lottie before she passes out. Her poor owl came all this way to deliver good news." She said kissing the owls head and caressing its feathers before getting up.
"Let's go!" he said, getting up, putting his robes on. Minerva helped him brush his hair. Then he put on his shoes while she got dressed and had made her perfect braid around her head, leaving the other strands of hair on her shoulders. She had now a preference for it, since she grew tired of buns. It was elegant and fit her. Albus thought her much more attractive that way.
They went downstairs together after feeding Lottie.
As both entered the Great Hall, few students nodded their heads at their passage and they would nod back, in a happy mood. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were two of the few who had stayed for Christmas holidays.
"They look happy!" Harry said.
"Yeah, it's a bit strange to see McGonagall smiling after my last Transfiguration assignment." said Ron, really surprised.
"I wasn't brilliant either..."
"And what about the...you know what?"
"I didn't find a way of...you know. It's not easy with Filch walking up and down around the castle. Especially with that blasted cat!"
"You're right! Maybe we'll come up with something 'till Christmas Eve..."
"Yeah."
Meanwhile, Minerva and Albus were having their breakfast.
"What are you planning to do this morning, dear?"
"I have some paper to look after and help Irma in the Library; I promised I would help her with the winter cleaning. It's quicker than letting Mr. Filch do it by himself."
"You don't like the man much, do you?"
"No, he's a complete idiot." she said. Albus laughed.
"You and your sharp tongue." he said. Minerva smiled, after swallowing a toast with jam.
Albus finished his coffee and got up from his chair. Then he kissed his wife's forehead and was gone before anyone could notice.
The week would prove itself long, for Minerva and Albus couldn't wait to see their daughter.
At night, already in bed, Minerva had Lottie in her lap and kept caressing her feathers. She was alone for Albus hadn't arrived yet from the Ministry.
"If only you could talk and tell me how is my Vivian... If only you could tell me that she's alright and in good health, happy and out of trouble." Minerva said, sighing afterwards. "I wonder how many scars she has by now, riding that blasted acromantula, working with dragons... Who knew she would be such a disquiet woman, so unlike her mother and father. I remember well, those sunny days, or rainy, because the weather never mattered, when she would run around the castle. Her auburn hair all soaked wet, and yet she would laugh when I would fuss about everything. And when I would reprimand her, she wouldn't say a thing, she wouldn't even explain herself. When she was sad, Albus would give her Lemon drops and play with her and Fawkes. Everybody liked her; she's such a charismatic girl. A girl? She's thirty! She's all grown up, she doesn't need me anymore, or lemon drops…Now I get sad, because that little girl I used to know won't enter our room running like hell had broke loose, or hug me so hard I would feel my ribs crack." Minerva smiled. "Good night, Lottie, don't scare Albus when he comes, alright?"
Lottie flew from Minerva's lap to her night table. Albus Dumbledore arrived at two in the morning and lied down next to his wife. She barely moved. "She must be exhausted…", he thought. He kissed Minerva's hair and closed his eyes to sleep. Lottie stood there, guarding them.
Somewhere in the deep English forest, leafs were crushed under really furry skinny and white eight legs that hopped and walked with joy.
"...I hope I meet someone tonight/ Who'll make my heart beat fast/ A handsome man with laughing eyes/ Who smiles as he walks past/ And when they play an old-time waltz/ He'll twirl me 'round the floor...Together!" A voice joined the other in her song.
"... He promised me that I would be his gal forevermore/ his gal forevermore/ his gal forevermore/ he promised me that I would be his gal forever more!" a voice sang.
You would be surprised to see a woman mounting a giant spider, but surprise would strike you more if it were an albino blind spider.
"We should do these trips more often, Jolly Aggie!" said the human.
"Yes, it's quite tiring but fun!" said the giant spider. "Your parents will be thrilled. I know they don't like me much..."
"I don't see why, you're such a fluffy, smart thing! Mother doesn't approve of me at all. She never did. She thinks me mad or something. 'You got it from your father, your tendency for madness; he too liked to gamble with his life! That's not proper for a lady such as you!' she says! I always liked big animals. I can't remember a moment when I didn't!"
"You said it's not very common to people to like acromantulas."
"And it isn't! They are considered an animal impossible to tame, some Ministry bull sh...crap! I don't like the bastards! I would let you eat them! But then, I don't think you would like the taste of it...Poor Jolly! You would die of indigestion, an obnoxious end!"
"You know what? I don't think your mother will like the new scar on your cheek!"
"It's not a scar! It's just a scratch!"
"I may be blind, but your scratches always end up as scars!"
"That's not true, Aggie! Remember the last gnome bite? I cured it, with a balm!"
"Yes...I would believe if I could see it!" said Jolly Aggie. The woman rolled her eyes, smiling. "How far are we?"
"We'll be arriving in one day, or such. Lottie went ahead. Remember me telling you that I sent an owl to my parents when we were in Prague?"
"Yes, that was almost four days ago!"
"We have a new record then! Jolly, I think we should stop and go to sleep."
"Alright." the spider said.
The woman dismounted the spider, petted it and proceeded to assemble a tent.
"Are you hungry?"
"I'm starving!"
"I know just the thing!" the woman illuminated her wand and searched in the tent for a box. It contained pork meat. She picked it from the floor and placed it in from of the spider. "There you are: a big juicy pig at twelve o'clock! Dig in! Goodnight!"
"Goodnight, Vivian!"