AN: Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.
when I'm in love (I'll finally grow old)
AlwaysPadfoot
Rolanda Hooch had always been young at heart.
That, coupled with the fact she'd stopped ageing at twenty-five, was a blissful mix. It had granted her a long and successful career in Quidditch — over forty years. Forty years and she hadn't aged a day; forty years and she had yet to find her soulmate. Honestly, at first, it hadn't really bothered her. She did not need a man to prove her worth. She definitely did not need one to bring the money in either, as her ample career had proved over the previous decades. Still, despite her independence, when she retired not looking a day older than when she'd started playing internationally, Rolanda still wondered occasionally whether there was something wrong with her. She'd thought perhaps not finding her soulmate was a punishment for something she'd done when she was younger. Despite those thoughts of inadequacy, she had faith that things would work themselves out.
In the mid-sixties, after a few years of travel, she returned to the UK beautifully tanned and ready to return to work. Seeking a position in which she could continue to use her vast knowledge in flying with, she soon found a job advertised from Hogwarts. Between Quidditch matches and teaching flying to first years, Rolanda would have plenty of time to herself. It was the perfect job.
Soon after her interview with Albus Dumbledore, Rolanda was offered the position and took up residence in the castle. As a student, she'd always wondered what the professor's living quarters were like, and now she knew. Spacious with plenty of room for the things she owned; it was perfect.
And so Hogwarts became her home.
oOo
It was easy to forget that she didn't age until the day she found a grey hair, then things spiralled. A million questions came to mind, but no answers.
Why hadn't she noticed she was ageing?
When did she start ageing?
Who had triggered it?
Rolanda found herself sitting with Poppy Pomfrey in her office later the same evening, hoping for an answer. Poppy cast some spells and Rolanda sat on the edge of a chair, her leg bouncing in anticipation.
"So, when the fuck did I start ageing?" she asked.
"According to this, eight years, one month and seven days ago," Poppy responded looking down at the statistics that had transferred to the parchment on her desk.
"Eight years," Rolanda repeated. "That long?"
Poppy's voice sort of faded out as Rolanda desperately tried to figure out what she'd been doing so many years ago. Her thoughts were fast, but in her head, she'd managed to pin the timeline to around about the time she'd started teaching at Hogwarts. Someone here, or someone who'd been here back in 1965, was her soulmate.
"...are you okay?"
Rolanda turned her head back to Poppy and blinked hard. "Yes, I'm fine. It's just odd as fuck that I didn't notice that I'm getting old."
"Old?" Poppy laughed softly. "Thirty-three is not old, Rolanda."
"When you've been twenty-five for fifty years, thirty-three is old," Rolanda quipped.
oOo
Finding out who her soulmate was proved to be no easy task. She'd tracked the days back to the day when she'd met the staff members for the first time. Without asking everyone to check when they started ageing again after stopping, Rolanda was at a loss on how to detect which of her colleagues was supposedly her soulmate.
She'd asked Poppy to not say anything, but people would soon realise that she was ageing. Perhaps they'd even realised already.
Sitting alone in the staffroom, Rolanda nursed a large mug of tea in her hands. She'd had a long two weeks since Poppy had revealed the significance behind her grey hair, and boy, was she exhausted. She hadn't slept or eaten well. Her every thought was fixated on this soulmate thing; the topic had never been an everyday thought like this before. This was getting ridiculous.
She slurped down a mouthful of hot tea, feeling it warm her insides, and then closed her eyes. Rolanda didn't even realise she'd nodded off until the staffroom door slammed shut and she startled.
"Sorry, kicked it a little too hard." Minerva McGonagall was standing, her arm's stacked high with parchment, looking aptly frustrated. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I wasn't sleeping," Rolanda denied.
"Sure you weren't," Minerva responded. "And I don't have three classes worth of homework to mark before I can even think about sleeping."
Rolanda rolled her eyes as the Transfiguration professor dropped the stack of essays in her arms onto one of the tables and then huffed, putting her hands on her hips. Even frustrated, Minerva's appearance looked effortlessly flawless; Rolanda felt as though she were in disarray in comparison. Not that she cared much about her appearance — her hair was supposed to have that windswept just-got-off-a-broom look.
"I feel as though you're spending more time in here than usual," Minerva said. "Are you the culprit behind the offensive sketches on the noticeboard?"
"I haven't the foggiest idea what you're referring to," Rolanda responded.
Her eyes drifted to the staff noticeboard on their left. It was full of notifications for varying things. It displayed their class schedules and shifts for late night patrols on the left-hand side. Staff events and training leaflets had taken over the right-hand side, and now included an ever-growing collection of rude hand-drawn pictures drawn by Rolanda herself.
"Well, Cuthbert insists that they are unacceptable and should be treated as an act of vandalism," Minerva continued.
"Well, Albus disagrees," Rolanda replied. "Earlier, he took a rather unflattering portrait of himself to frame in his office."
"Of course, he did," Minerva muttered.
The Transfiguration professor went and made herself a cup of tea before returning to sit in the armchair opposite Rolanda. Crossing one leg over the other, she placed the teacup on the side table and then relaxed into the chair.
"You have been spending more time in here," Minerva stated.
Rolanda shrugged. "I'm a people watcher."
"I distinctly remember you telling me once that you started flying to get away from people," Minerva responded taking a sip of tea without averting her gaze once.
"People change."
"Do people change as they get older?"
Rolanda's eyes snapped up to her colleague. Minerva wore a serious expression, and yet, there was a flicker of something else in her eyes that the flying teacher couldn't quite figure out. So instead, she leaned forward in her chair and sighed as she placed her empty mug on the table.
"So you've noticed?" Rolanda asked.
Minerva nodded. "Yes, but not because you look old."
Rolanda scoffed, not believing the woman for even a moment. She supposed this was always going to happen eventually.
"I stopped ageing for a while," Minerva continued. "It came as quite a shock actually as I thought I had already met my soulmate. I was in love with a Muggle man and it broke my heart to leave him, but come my twenty-fifth birthday my ageing halted, just like everyone else who hasn't found their soulmate yet."
"You're not dating anyone now though," Rolanda asked curiously, "but you've started ageing again?"
"I have."
Roland felt an odd feeling deep inside herself and an odd thought sprung to the forefront of her mind. Biting her lip as Minerva took another sip of her tea, she decided to tentatively ask a question — despite being nervous of the answer.
"When did you start ageing?"
"A while back now." Minerva smiled softly, looking through the window at a parliament of owls crossed the sky as though fondly remembering the moment in her mind. "You see, I met my childhood hero — a woman who dominated on the Quidditch pitch — despite being a Slytherin. I only very recently realised that was the day I started ageing again. I've become far more fond of that memory over time, but even more so now."
Minerva didn't look back for a long moment. Rolanda looked on as though a weight had been lifted. She was a little taken aback, and a little flabbergasted, and yet, suddenly things were starting to make sense. Minerva was one of the only staff members that she really got on with; one of the only staff members that could put up with her dry wit and relentless sarcasm; one of the only staff members that Rolanda gave a damn about. Of course, it was Minerva McGonagall all along.
"Well, thank Merlin," Rolanda said. "I was concerned it might be old Binns for a while."
Minerva rolled her eyes to the heavens, but a smile formed on her face — one that Rolanda was grateful have seen a few times before despite the woman's mostly stoic exterior. She flashed Minerva a smile that was all teeth and watched her shake her head ever so slightly with a soft sigh.
"You're going to have to tell me what you're thinking," Minerva said. "I can't do much with sarcasm and you pulling a face that's more teeth than skin."
"What a horrific image I now have in my head," Rolanda said, more to herself, before continuing. "Honestly?"
"Honestly."
"Honestly, you being my soulmate, it makes a lot of sense. It explains why I give a damn about you more than anyone else, and why I sometimes catch myself looking at you a little longer than other people, and why I consider it a success when I make you laugh or smile."
"You look at me?" Minerva asked with surprise in her voice.
Rolanda smiled and then gazed across at the woman, pausing before responding. "Yes, you're effortlessly beautiful."
Minerva's cheeks blushed pink, which she tried to cover up rather unsuccessfully by taking a gulp of tea and ducking her head slightly. There was a brief moment of quiet in the staffroom before Rolanda heard her say a soft 'thank you'.
"So here's my suggestion," Rolanda said. "Aurora owes me, so I'll get her to cover my patrol, and you and I will go to Hogsmeade for a drink tonight."
"It's a Tuesday," Minerva exclaimed.
"I didn't say we were going out to get rat-arsed, Min," Rolanda replied. "I said a drink. We go to the Three Broomsticks and we have a chat about this whole soulmate situation and figure out what the hell happens next."
Minerva appeared to think about it. "Okay. Alright, I'm in."
"Brilliant." Rolanda paused and then smirked. "So, I was your childhood hero, was I?"
"Oh, don't start," Minerva replied, standing to go and collect some of her essays to mark.
Chuckling, Rolanda leant back in her chair with a smile on her face. All this time she'd been worried about ageing when what she should have been worried about was the time lost with Minerva. She had time to make up for. As she glanced across at her soulmate, she found herself wondering how she could have possibly not known all along. The Transfiguration professor was beautiful, intelligent, and Rolanda had seen her lose all sense of calm when it came to Quidditch. She was practically perfect in every way.
Minerva turned, caught Rolanda's gaze with her dark green eyes, and her expression softened. "What?"
"Nothing," Rolanda smiled.
She had a good feeling about this.
Comps and Prompts
Romance Awareness: Day 3 - You stop ageing at a certain age until you meet your soulmate and grow old together.
Assignment 2: Geography, Task 12 - Write about someone who ages differently or who doesn't age
IHC: 44. Character - Minerva McGonagall
365: 346. Word - Flabbergasted
SC — Days of the Year — August 1 2018 - National Girlfriend's Day: Write about someone asking out a girl
SC — Summer Prompts — (word) travel
SC — Shay's Musical Challenge — 30. Kismet - Write about fate
SC — Gryffindor Prompts — Medium: Minerva McGonagall.
WC — Character Appreciation — 18. (creature) owl
WC — Disney Challenge — Q2. "Practically perfect in every way."
WC — Cookie's Crafty Corner — 2x2 Ribbing: Trope - Opposites attract
WC — Book Club — Aunt Linda: (colour) dark green, (word) scoff, (word) punishment
WC — Showtime — 11. I believe - (word) Faith
WC — Amber's Attic — 6. Compass - Write about someone finding their way (figuratively or literally)
WC — CYB — C2. Rolanda Hooch
WC — Ami's Audio Admirations — 2. The A-List - Write about a character who is popular.
WC — Em's Emporium — 14. Sophie - Write about an absolute boss
WC — Lo's Lowdown — C2. Jason Gideon - Write about someone who likes their alone time.
WC — Bex's Bazaar — D4. When I see an elephant fly - Write about someone with an amazing skill
WC — Film Festival — 57. (word) brilliant.
Word Count - 1884