A Lifetime of Valentines
Valentine's Day 1944
Albus Dumbledore had just finished teaching the fifth years transfiguration, his final class of the school day, and now he strolled through the cloisters of the castle, beaming contentedly as he noted how the late winter sunshine made the castle's stones glow with warmth. As he turned the corner, he saw a young couple in the courtyard outside, their backs to him so that Albus had no idea who they were. The blonde haired boy leant casually against the wall, as he drew the dark haired girl towards him.
Albus smiled benignly, as he watched the two teenagers kiss each other. He supposed he really ought to step in and seperate them - after all their kiss did seem to be growing rather passionate, but it was Valentine's day, and so he paused a moment to watch. Even with the passion evident in their kisses, there was still a certain innocent sweetness about young love that made him smile softly to himself.
Then the girl drew back briefly from the boy's lips, the light catching her face, and suddenly everything changed. A change so intense, and so unexpected that Albus staggered backwards under it's impact, as a surge of powerful emotions hit him like a tidal wave. For this wasn't just any student, it was seventeen year old Minerva McGonagall.
The surge of intense jealousy that Albus felt, was like a knife through his heart, and his eyes blazed furiously as he took a step forwards, how dare that boy kiss his Minerva like that! It should have been his own lips that brushed her's for the first time! As the realisation of what he'd just thought, of what he felt came over Albus, he stopped in his tracks, still unseen by the young couple.
Albus' eyes filled with sorrow, as he drew back into the shadows, unable to do as he should and tear his eyes away. It was in that moment, that he realised that he harboured feelings, desires, which he considered completely inappropriate for Minerva. The idea appalled him. He was forty years older than her, he was her Professor, her mentor. How could he feel this way? And yet he did. No matter how much he commanded the feelings to go away, there they were, tormenting him. He loved Minerva, found her captivatingly beautiful, and it should have been his lips that kissed her for the very first time, not that boy's.
As he watched from his place in the shadowed cloisters, Albus was too enraged, too full of burning envy to even notice who the boy was that kissed his Minerva. And once again, he was filled with the desire to act, felt his fists knot into tightly clenched balls, as he fought against the urge to step out of hiding, and give the boy detention for the rest of term.
It took every last ounce of Albus' determination to remind himself that to do so would be unfair, and unwarranted, to turn and step lightly away from the pair, and seek the solitude of his chambers.
As the door closed behind Albus, he sank into a chair, and stared blankly into the cold empty fireplace, seeing only Minerva being kissed by someone other than him. As the minutes ticked by, and the skies turned twilight blue, Albus was filled with a longing to go to Minerva, and announce his love, to simply gaze at her admiringly, and lose himself in her beauty. Several times he rose from his chair, as though he would go to her, then sighed heavily, and sat back down again. He was after all her teacher, his feelings were completely inappropriate, and could never be acted upon. Doubtless with time they would fade, wouldn't they?
Author's Notes
This is just part one of the story, I have two more chapters nearly ready, and need to write a few more to complete the story. It's going to be quite a mad rush to get it all completed before Valentine's Day, but I intend to try my best. If all goes well, and reality doesn't play any nasty trick on me, I'll spend most of tomorrow writing like mad. ;)
Happy Valentine's Day everyone. :) Hope you all liked the first chapter. I hope I got the date of Minerva's final year correct, it was very confusing trying to find out, since one site said one thing, and another said something different. ;)