A fic I wrote for the LiveJournal community '30minutefics' where, appropriately enough, you have to write a fic in 30 minutes. This is a MgGonagall/Lupin pairing, which is odd because I have never ever read a fic with this pairing, nor have I ever written this paring before. It's funny what my muse forces me to write in my spare class. Concrit appreciated.
JK Rowling owns it all - I own nothing. It would be rather cool to be her for a day.
Pursing her thin lips together, Minerva McGonagall marked yet another poorly written Transfiguration essay. She expected a great deal more from her seventh year Gryffindors; they were smarter than this pile of dragon's dung. Removing her glasses in irritation, she proceeded to rub her brow. It was going to be a long, boring night - the mountain of essays did not seem to get any smaller as the hours went by.
Not only were the majority incorrect, but they were also poorly written as though they had been hurriedly finished in fifteen minutes. She gave a sniff and concluded that many of them were most likely written in a quarter of an hour - particularly the one before class. James Potter and Sirius Black always managed to include some sort of creative, imaginative supporting point within their assignments, which always made her chuckle against her wishes. Yet, tonight, their assignments were simply fact after fact; it held none of their charm that set them apart from the rest of the class.
She sighed in frustration and picked up another roll of parchment off the mound at random. A genuine smile formed upon her lips – the first of the evening. It was Remus Lupin's. The boy always managed to provide insightful examples in an intelligent and interesting way that did not sound condescending. Even though it was unfair to the students, at times, she would assign the class small assignments just to see what Remus would say on that particular subject.
She unrolled his parchment carefully and her smile faltered considerably, then her jaw dropped. And just when she thought she could perform no more unconscious actions, her heart skipped a beat. The only words written on Remus' parchment were, "I love you."
Surely this was a joke. It had to be.
"It's not a joke, Professor."
Minerva jumped. There, in her doorway, stood Remus Lupin looking tenser than his usual rigid state. "It's not a joke," he echoed, though his nervousness caught the better of him and his sentence trailed off into nothing.
Minerva attempted to swallow the large lump in her throat and pursed her lips together, making them even thinner.
She had been through a scenario just like this one in her seventh year. An unhealthy infatuation with her own Transfiguration teacher caused Minerva to declare her love for Albus Dumbledore. Naturally, the man turned her down. In the years that followed, she had never been more grateful for his rejection. Her so called 'love' for her professor melted away and was revealed for what it truly was: a silly schoolgirl crush.
In her heart, she knew the right thing to do was to reject the poor boy – no matter how much pain it would cause him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lupin, but you still owe me an essay," she whispered as had her heart tried to jump out her throat when she saw the boy's heartbreak reflected in his soft, fragile eyes. Stunned and hurt, he left without saying a word, leaving Minerva to stare helplessly at the vacated threshold.
Perhaps this was the curse of the Transfiguration post?
Thanks for reading. Virtual cookies for reviewers! Two virtual cookies for constructive crit reviewers!
- Dana