A.N: Needless to say, I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own any of the Potterverse other than my fanfiction plotlines. Also, I do not make money from these (I have to live in the real workd, unfortunately). Okay, this is a little one-shot that sprung to mind when I found a rather fabulous picture on Deviantart, which is linked below.
Albus Dumbledore had had a bad day. There were Ministry owls all over his office and they were leaving more than just their letters behind. And he was getting fed up of scourgifying that mess as well as trying to sort out Fudge's. On top of that, people were terrified of a monster that should not even exist anymore. Add to that the bloody message on the wall and he had himself one Howler of a day.
Enemies of the heir beware. He shuddered as the image of it locked its tendrils around his mind for at least the fiftieth time that day.
A nice, warm slice of rhubarb crumble would help wipe it all away, if only for a few delectable minutes. So Albus's quest had begun and he had started to wander towards the Great Hall, hastily quickening his steps whenever he met the eye of a colleague lest they wish for him to make pointless small talk about the progress of knowledge in their specialist subjects. To be fair, he would generally be quite happy to talk about the newest theory on Levitation charms or to hear of the latest methods of humane skrewt control. But today had not been a 'generally' sort of day.
Albus had, in fact, made it all the way to the Entrance Hall from his office without having to stop once. It was then that he knew that his voyage was cursed and had been from the moment he closed his office door.
Oh, Merlin. Minerva was coming. He tried to hide but it seemed that even the statues were conspiring against him, leaving him no point of refuge. She would know that something was wrong, she with those perceptive hawk eyes. She always did. Then she would continue to question him until he had confessed every single emotion that stood sentry in his thoughts and every incident that had caused them. However, he had, by now, learned to never mention any names because he was fed up of dealing with badly bruised or hexed colleagues or Ministry members.
She walked straight up to him, her chin jutted out determinedly. Expecting the full force of her inquisition, Albus cringed slightly.
Rather than the onslaught of privacy invasion he was expecting, he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around his shoulders and, a second later, he was leaning against a surprisingly sturdy frame. It was so good, unbelievably so, to have physical support from a friend. Until now, Albus Dumbledore had never known what it felt like to find true, unspoken moral support wrapped in the physical embrace of a friend, but today it felt glorious. He even found himself able to return the embrace and ignore the students making giggled remarks around them. When Minerva finally relinquished her grip on him, he stuttered in his confusion:
"M-Minerva? Wh-what?"
"Didn't you know? It's 'Hug a Dumbly Day' and I realised that I forgot to hug mine."
She smiled a smile that everyone thought so uncharacteristic, but he knew to grace her face whenever she was away from the students. And she simply walked away.
His best friend always knew how to make him feel better.
A/N: Inspired by a piece of fanart that I found at Deviantart: albus-x-minerva.deviantart. com/favourites/#/d5y0ky
I just couldn't stop smiling at it. So, have you hugged your Dumbly today?
