A/N: If only I am smart enough to own this but sadly I am not.
I'm playing with the ages, and putting Tom and Minerva together at school.
This is for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 3.
I am Appleby Arrow's seeker Jade.
Round 3: Round 3 - Truth or Dare
We've all played this game at some point in our lives (if you haven't, you should). The rules are simple: one person asks the other to pick a Truth or a Dare. Depending on which one the other picks, the first person will ask them a question that needs to be answered with the Truth, or they will Dare them to do something that they probably wouldn't normally do.
This round works on the same basic principle. Each position will be given a Truth and a Dare to choose from, based on which a story has to be written. Note: you don't necessarily have to incorporate the game into your story or take the prompts literally. As long as you meet the demands of the prompt, you may interpret the prompts in whatever way you want. The prompts are:
SEEKER: Write about a buried Truth being unearthed after decades and its consequences OR write about a Dare that is unearthed and carried out after decades, and its consequences.
Big thanks to my team! All of them are wonderful!
A Dare Cannot Possibly Stop the War
Past: 31.10.1943.
A group of Hogwarts students was playing Truth or Dare.
"Minnie, your turn!" shouted Tom after an embarrassing question.
"Spin the bottle, then," Minerva said, scowling at the rest of them.
"Fine, fine!" Abraxas said.
The bottle was spinning and spinning and it indeed landed on Minerva, but the other end of the bottle stopped on Tom.
"Truth or dare?" she asked Tom smugly.
"Dare!" he said, thinking that the Gryffindor couldn't come up with an idea that was able to destroy him and his plans. She knew about them because they had been dating for a year now.
"You really think that I can't come up with something?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and continued, "I have been hanging out with the Slytherins for the last two years, Tom."
Rolling his eyes, he said, "Fine, do your worst!"
The rest of the Slytherins that were playing with them decided to chime in:
"Go, Minnie!"
"Show that boyfriend of yours that you can be a true Dark Lady!"
"There is no limit; after all, we are wizards," Nott added, a smirk playing around the corners of his mouth.
"Witches, too!" Walburga chimed in.
"Enough!" Minerva shouted because she was getting fed up with them and then continued more calmly, "It seems to me that this is a dare for me,not for him,as it should be."
"Since you feel like that, my darling girlfriend," Tom started dryly, "you can choose anything, even swearing on my magic."
"Are you serious, Tom? You know how many possibilities you give me with that."
He just rolled his eyes and waited. The other Slytherins around them also waited expectantly, many of them thinking that it would be yet another lousy task because, after all, she was a Gryffindor.
"Very well. I dare you, Tom, to swear a vow upon your magic that you will do three things I ask of you within my lifetime."
She sat back and waited for him to process it. The only indication that he realized what she really did was the slight widening of his eyes.
Present: 30.10.1981.
Albus was pacing around his office while he waited for Minerva to arrive. They had come to an understanding: he would not ask her to actively go against her husband, but in return, she would not support either of them. Albus still did not know why he had given her permission to marry Tom; he supposed it was because he hoped to avoid war altogether.
At the same time, James and Lily Potter were looking at the Professor worriedly. Albus never told them how he would solve their problem, just that they should come today.
Finally, the door of his office opened and Minerva entered.
"Albus, what is it?" Minerva asked, suppressing the urge to call him her father; after all, he had been fulfilling that role ever since her blood father had died in the war against Grindelwald.
"I will not drag this out like I usually would, Minerva. I am desperate. Tom is planning on killing the Potters and I swore to his grandfather that I would protect them. I —"
"What do you want from me, Albus?" Minerva asked, feeling dread coming over her. She had felt the urge to protect the little Potter heir. She didn't know why, but she knew that something had happened in the past...
"MInerva, are you alright?" Albus asked, seeing Minerva pale.
-Flashback-
She woke up to strong sensation of pain in her stomach. She tried to get up when she felt water running down her legs. She quickly shook her husband to wake him up.
"Minnie, what is it?" Tom asked yawning.
"My water just broke," she said as calmly as she could.
Immediately, Tom asked a house elf to call for the healer and another to bring Dumbledore here. Tom might hate him, but he knew that it would mean the world to Minerva.
The healer arrived shortly afterwards and Tom was shooed out of the room.
The child with bright red hair was born not long after that and both the Father and the honorary Grandfather were called in.
"She is beautiful, Minnie," Tom said in a whisper.
"Congratulations!" Albus said with a smile on his face, but it soon faded when he saw Minerva's face.
"We can't keep her, Tom. She deserves better."
"Minnie..."
"It is you who wants to wage war," Minerva said with finality.
A few days later, little Lily — that was how they had named her — was dropped off at an orphanage.
-End of flashback-
She hadn't seen her daughter in twenty years, but now that she looked at Lily Potter again after remembering this, she could see Tom's face and his mother's hair.
"Minerva!" Albus called her again.
"I need to sit down," she said.
"Professor, are you alright?" Lily asked.
"I will be," she said to Lily and then turned towards Albus. "Call for Tom and tell him to bring Severus Snape with him."
"What, that Death Eater?" shouted James.
"I will explain everything!" Minerva said with a harsh tone.
Soon, the Dark Lord and Snape came through the fireplace.
A faint "What?" could be heard from both Lily and James.
"Minerva, we agreed..." Tom started but was soon cut off by Minerva's sharp:
"Shut up!"
"Snape, do you have that potion I asked for?" she asked. Every month for the last three years, the parentage potion would be made and it wouldn't be used, but now it was time.
"Lily, please, put three drops of your blood into this potion."
Lily did it without any questions because she recognized the potion; it was dark, but she had had the wish to use it ever since her parents had told her she was adopted.
After the blood was placed into the potion, it became green and Minerva spilled it on a parchment.
After few minutes of silence, cursive text started showing up.
Lily Merope Potter
Mother: Minerva Riddle - McGonagall
Father: Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort
After seeing that, Minerva cleared her throat and said, "Tom, I call upon the vow."
"WHAT?" came from all present in the room, except Tom.
"Minerva..."
"This is non-negotiable, Tom."
"Fine," Tom said resignedly.
"Minerva, please explain?" Albus asked tiredly. He always hated when she knew more than he did. Not only did that place him a difficult spot, but it caused migraines. He knew that was one thing he and Tom agreed on.
Seeing his wife still glaring at him, Tom took a deep breath and explained everything about that dare so long ago.
After all was explained, Minerva cleared her throat and said, "The war will be stopped."
"Minerva…" Tom started before being cut off by her shoving the paper into his face.
"Oh!" Was all that came out of his mouth as he leaned on the table.
Lily, already with few suspicions in her mind, took the paper and read it with her husband.
"Is this true?" she asked with a trembling voice.
"Yes," Minerva said with dread in her heart.
After that word left her mother's mouth, Lily looked at her husband, who gave her a small nod as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.
When Lily saw the nod, she looked with a smile at her husband and stood up, giving him their child.
With a smile on her face, she walked up to Minerva and hugged her, whispering, "You will explain later."
After that, she hugged her father.
Two days later, the war was officially stopped, and the family lived happily for the rest of their lives.
THE END