AN: For QL Round Six [BEATER 1: Minerva McGonagall. Prompts: 1. (dialogue) "If I hear anyone say 'Happy Birthday,' one more time...", 7. (song) Stand by Me - Ben E. King, 11. (word) barbarians ]
Word Count: 1271
Barbarians and Hooligans
By MagicMinnie
Barely a month and a half into term and Minerva was unable to really look at her students.
The Carrows were destroying everything that Hogwarts had once been. The lights in the students' eyes were dying, being extinguished one-by-one — their fight was diminishing.
Minerva finished her last class of the day in silence. The usual murmur of voices as her students packed up was absent. The air was just filled with scraping chairs and the rustle of robes and bags. No murmurs; no laughter — just students starting to lose hope entirely that things were going to be okay.
As soon as the last person left and the door shut firm, Minerva dropped into her desk chair.
Hogwarts had become a very dark place.
Gathering the stack of essays from her desk, Minerva took a deep breath and made her way from the classroom. It was a short distance between here and the staff room. She walked fast; groups of students coming from the opposite direction still parted to let her pass with ease.
She reached the door of the staff room just as Filius was leaving.
"Ah, Minerva, how's your day been?" he asked.
"Fine," she lied. "Yourself?"
"Oh, well, it's been better," Filius responded. "I must go, to the Ravenclaw tower."
Minerva stepped aside to let him pass and just as she reached out to push the staffroom door open, Filius spoke again. "Oh, and Happy Birthday."
"Right, thank you."
The staff room was almost empty. In the corner was Rolanda Hooch and Aurora Sinistra, both talking in hushed voices. Their gazes both raised as Minerva kicked the door shut behind her. Dropping the stack of essays in her arms onto the nearest table, she heaved a sigh and turned wearily to her colleagues.
"You look like shit, Minerva," Rolanda said matter-of-factly.
Minerva arched an eyebrow high at the flying teacher's choice of words. Rolanda had never really been the most eloquent of staff members, with colleagues, or the older students.
"I feel like it," Minerva sighed.
She sat with the two women for a while, talking in low voices about the barbarians that were the Carrows. Hogwarts was no longer a place that felt like home, but a place that students feared. All three of them now point blank refused to give out detentions. As a consequence the hourglasses in the Great Hall had been decimated — only a few measly jewels lay in the bottom of each one. Even the Slytherin hourglass was in poor health.
The evening drew in outside the windows; the sky painted with pinks and purples. It was almost beautiful — almost.
"Right, I'm going back to my quarters so that I don't have to deal with the misery of dinner tonight," Rolanda said, getting up from the armchair she'd been in with a slight groan. "My back, I swear. Night, ladies. Have a good birthday, Minerva."
"I don't see why she gets to skip dinner just because she's support staff," Aurora muttered as Rolanda left.
"She'd probably bite the Carrows' heads off if they tried making her go," Minerva responded.
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall if those barbarians tried taking her on."
The two women stayed a little longer talking before Minerva finally decided to leave. Collecting up her stack of essays to mark, she let her eyes scan the noticeboard before turning back to Aurora. The Astronomy professor had just poured herself another cup of coffee to nurse as she sat procrastinating the marking on the table beside her.
"See you this evening," Minerva said, heading for the door.
"Yes, oh, and happy birthday, Minerva."
The Transfiguration professor gave a short thanks and left the staff room.
It didn't feel right to celebrate her birthday this year. She felt wholly uncomfortable being happy when the events that shrouded the castle in darkness were so prominent in everyday life.
The corridors were near-empty as she walked the short route to her office. She had about forty minutes until dinner, and honestly, she was beginning to wonder whether she might take a similar approach to Rolanda. Personally, Minerva thought she was entitled to one night of quiet — one night to ignore the guilt that plagued her. These were her students, and she was letting them down.
Upon reaching her office, she pushed the door open with her back and as she turned she noticed she was not alone. Poppy was standing by the desk. There was a soft smile on her face.
"If I hear anyone say 'Happy Birthday,' one more time…" Minerva began as she placed the pile of essays by another stack she had to mark.
Poppy's face fell at the clear irritation in Minerva's voice and moved towards her immediately. Placing a hand across her eyes, Minerva stilled. She exhaled deeply, all the stress of the day catching up with her.
"Minnie?" Poppy said quietly, taking both Minerva's hands gently in hers. "What's wrong?"
"I'm letting my students down. I'm letting Hogwarts get tainted by those two barbarians; I should be doing more. I should be trying harder to help." Minerva's voice cracked midway through her sentence and she took a deep breath to control herself. "I feel utterly useless, Poppy."
Whilst Minerva had been speaking, Poppy had guided her to the sofa in between the bookshelves to their left and sat her down. She didn't let go once — still cupping her hands in hers gently.
"Minerva," Poppy said. "You're doing everything you can. I've seen you sit at students bedsides when I've been treating them; I've seen you taking crying children into your office. You're there for them when they need you."
Shaking her head wearily, Minerva looked up at the woman sat beside her
"The students, they're here to learn, not to be terrified to go to class," she retorted.
"And you — you and the other actual professors — you're teaching," Poppy insisted. "You're helping take their minds off the big black cloud that's above us."
Neither woman said anything else for a long while. At some point, Poppy pulled Minerva into a tight hug. Breathing in the familiar scent of the nurse's shampoo, the pain in Minerva's chest subsided a little. Poppy always knew what to say and when to say it. No matter what was happening in either of their lives or elsewhere in the world, Poppy was right there beside her when things got tough.
"It's hard," Minerva mumbled against the woman's shoulder. "But thank you, Poppy. What would I do without you, hmm?"
"Oh, I think you'd get on just fine."
Minerva doubted that sincerely and scoffed to express her disbelief.
"Besides, these misguided hooligans need you," Poppy said, pushing the professor to arm's length.
Her smile made her whole face light up and Minerva loved it. It made Poppy even more beautiful somehow. Every day she grew more and more fond of the woman sat in front of her. Minerva reached up and touched her fingers to Poppy's face.
"This misguided hooligan needs you," Minerva said.
Poppy laughed softly and tucked a strand of Minerva's hair behind her ear. "I love you, Minnie, and I know you do everything you can for your students. So, let's go down to dinner, then me and you will go to Hogsmeade for a butterbeer — or something stronger perhaps? Does that sound good?"
"That sounds perfect." Minerva nodded and leaned forward to press her lips to Poppy's — just for a second. "I love you."
She could keep it together for her students.
With Poppy by her side, she could do anything.