Entry for "Muggle Studies" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"
Task: Write about a wizarding duel. Min 500 words
Entry for the "Crystals, Gemstones and Astrology Challenge/Competition" - Hexigon/Star of David ; Intermediate: Use the quote: "Behind every great man is a greater woman" as inspiration for your story. Min 1000 words
AU-ish, with Minerva and Albus being the same age.
"Albus, are you ready? Everybody is waiting for you."
Minerva McGonagall sticked her head through the gap of the slightly open door and looked at her boyfriend Albus Dumbledore, who stood in front of the mirror of the small changing room. He inspected his appearance, a nervous expression on his handsome face.
"No," he whispered, fixing his competition uniform consisting of a thin sweatshirt and pants, both in the Gryffindor colours, the House crest painted over his chest, and light boots. His wand was placed in a special holster attached to his belt.
"Are you nervous?," Minerva asked, entering the room fully with a small sigh and closed the door behind her, allowing them a moment of privacy.
Albus only nodded, gulping hard as he thought about the event that was lying in front of him. In fact, he was feeling so nervous about it that he felt as if he was going to throw up as soon as he would enter the arena. His stomach made a portentous rumble to underline this fear.
"I don't feel like I should be in this, there were candidates who were way more skilled than I am and therefore were more promising to win this duel."
"Albus, you gained this opportunity for yourself by being the best. This is your duel, you deserved it!"
What they were talking about was the final round of the first official Inter-School Duelling Championship. All students who had participated in the Duelling Club of Hogwarts had been allowed to sign up for this competition and had duelled each other to find the most-skilled wizard amongst, who had then been announced the representant of Hogwarts.
Albus had revealed himself as one of the strongest duelists and had won all his preliminary duels, but still he could not believe that he really belonged in the finals.
Minerva sensed that she would have to give her boyfriend a basic to medium kick into his backside to make him see that he was not supposed to think so lowly of himself and his skills.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore! Now stop mulling in your thoughts and go out there or I will make you regret being such a coward for the rest of your life!"
He stared at her with his eyes wide in shock about her outburst and the sparkle in her eyes was a bit dangerous.
"I... eh... okay... Already gone," he stuttered, his cheeks flushing as Minerva smiled viciously and pressed a short kiss on his temple before she just shoved him out of the door.
oOo
Albus staggered more than he walked as he entered the Quidditch Stadium of Hogwarts which was used as a arena for the competition.
He and his opponent, a student from the Australian Academy of Magic, were greeted by the crowd with a deafening roar and an ocean of waving flags. The people in the ranks were literally swallowed by the colourful blur of the banners, but still it did not take Albus long to spot Minerva in the first row, sending a supportive and ensuring smile towards him.
He and his opponent, who had been introduced with the name William, nodded at each other in a friendly manner before they bowed, taking their positions so the duel could begin.
The fight started out rather hesitant, both Albus and William were trying to find out which skills the other one possessed and if they revealed a weak spot.
It was no great effort for Albus to deflect the rather simple spells William directed at him, and after a few minutes, he dared to finally start and be offensive himself.
With a flick of his wand, he did send a non-verbal leg-locker curse at him while dodging a curse from William at the same time. The other boy was hit and fell to the ground, causing his supporters in the crowd to scream for him to get up, even though that was not possible for now.
Lying on the grass, William shot a strong Expelliarmus Charm at Albus, who could feel its power vibrating as it hit his shield charm.
He was realising that William and he were to be considered pretty equal in their skills, even though William had obviously not mastered the non-verbal magic yet. His strong spells were definitely making up for that area.
Albus knew that he had to be quicker than the other boy, just for a split second, and he would be able to take him out and end this.
Only a few moments later, he got the chance he had been hoping for – William, who had used a short moment to undo the leg-locker curse, staggered sideways as he tried to avoid another curse of that kind and needed a little bit too long to recover.
"Stupify!," Albus exclaimed and the curse hit its target, causing William to fall to the ground, unconscious. Immediately, the referee stepped forwards and announced the duel as finished.
"And the winner is: Albus Dumbledore representing Hogwarts!"
It was as if the crowd had transformed in a lion, roaring triumphantly as everybody supporting Hogwarts jumped from their seats, screaming Albus' name.
oOo
"Didn't I tell you that you are exactly in the same place, you lovely idiot?," Minerva laughed as she jumped into his arms, kissing his cheek. Albus grinned at her, holding her close to him.
"What would I do without you, my dear? I doubt that I could ever have achieved this without you! You are always pushing me forwards and encourage me and I really don't know how I could ever pay you back for this... I love you, Minerva McGonagall, I love you for being so strong and intelligent and for having so much patience with a fool like me and..."
"Oh, just shut up already, love," she smiled and pulled him down for a kiss. As her mother had always said, there was always a strong woman behind a strong man and Minerva felt immensily proud that she could call herself the woman behind Albus. What she found even better was the fact that she did not feel like she was living in his shadow - they were both skilled and acknowledged in the same ways for that.