Title: Boat
Word Count: 667 words
A/N: This wasn't my best piece, but it's my first Minerva-centric one and I'm fairly pleased with it. Sorry it (and 'C') are late. My laptop was having SERIOUS malfunctions. This is dedicated to 2Padfoot00Moony8 who gave me this prompt as part of my A-Z Drabbles prompt plea.
Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Minerva (although sometimes it would probably be fun if I did ;])

Minerva woke with a strange feeling in her stomach and a shiver. Her eyes popped open in confusion when she couldn't find a blanket to wrap around herself. That's strange, she thought, staring up into a blue sky. She sat up suddenly, realizing that she was either lying outside or in the Great Hall, neither of which were acceptable. Her confusion quickly turned to panic when she finally became conscious of her surroundings. She was in the middle of the lake in a boat. A very small, derelict boat. She looked around wide-eyed, feeling overwhelmed. What was she supposed to do now? So much water…and the land looked way to far away. She grasped for her wand blindly, falling into an even deeper terror. How was she going to get back to shore? She needed to get to her classes and she certainly couldn't do it as she was now, in her night-gown. Where was the nosey Dumbledore she knew when she needed him? Probably eating lemon drops and picking out which pair of ridiculous socks he should wear today, she thought scathingly. Her fear felt like a heavy weight on her chest that was threatening to strangle her. The water looked like the largest obstacle Minerva'd ever faced. She absolutely hated water! She'd barely tolerated it as an adolescent, but after finding that her animagus form was a cat as an adult, she'd began absolutely detesting and fearing it. It was her secret weakness. Not many people thought that their animagus forms could affect their human forms, and if people were too stupid to figure it out for themselves, then Minerva certainly wasn't going to spill the beans. She felt herself calming down and her thoughts re-ordering themselves in a proper fashion. She was a very capable 73-year old witch. She needed no one's help. She could take care of herself. She began looking around for ways out of her predicament, but unfortunately that led to thinking about how she could have gotten in this predicament in the first place. As far as she knew she didn't sleep walk, and she kept her quarters tightly locked. The only teacher brave enough to play pranks on her would be Albus, and he would never be this outright cruel. He and he alone, knew of her dread of water. It was one of her most closely guarded secrets (along with the fact that she had a fondness for fizzing wizzbees). She could honestly think of no way she could have ended up in the middle of the lake, so she focused her thoughts on getting out again. She, for obvious reasons, didn't know how to swim, so that avenue was out. Her wand was nowhere on her person or in the boat, so she'd have to do this without magic. Searching the rest of the boat she couldn't find a thing! No oars, or broken off pieces of wood, nothing! She nearly screeched aloud in frustration. She had to get off this boat this instant. There was nothing for it. She was going to have to yell for help. How undignified, she thought glumly, just before she spotted a speck of purple and white moving towards her at a high speed on a broom. She quietly watched until the figure got close enough for her to recognize the unexpected sight of Albus flying towards her in his sleeping robes. He smiled and winked at her as he pulled up alongside the boat. He said nothing as he handed her her wand and flew off. She stared after him in wonder. How he knew such things, she'd probably never discern. With a sigh of relief she called a wind to push her back to shore and hopped onto land appreciatively. If she never had to go on or in water again it would be too soon. She took one last look at the dark, menacing waters, shuddering, before turning towards the castle and walking back at a fast pace.