Author's Note: Hello everyone! First of all I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to read this story, I really appreciate it. I haven't posted anything in awhile, and I hope those of you who have been reading my other stories can forgive me for that. Up until now I really haven't had the time or the patience to get back to my writing, I've always had something else to do, or someplace I had to be. I would like to let you know that no I have not abandoned my other stories, I'm actually in the process of editing three chapters for them that I hope to post very soon! The idea for this story came to me yesterday and it was just begging to be written. This takes place in the same universe as "Love Lives On" and "The Diary of Minerva McGonagall" to those of you who have been keeping up with those. This story may be read in conjunction with those, or as a stand alone. For a full explanation of the universe see my note in chapter one of "Love Lives On." I'll try to keep everything as canon as possible, but there are certain things I will change. So without further ado, chapter 1


Snapshot 1

Chapter 1: In Which Minerva and Severus get in to an argument

It had been a long and tiring day, which was saying a lot as it wasn't even over yet. The toad was making everyone's life far more difficult and stressful than should be allowed. She had managed to cause more trouble in the school than even the worst students. With every new rule she implemented, she managed to bring more and more problems to both the staff and the students. As the school year went most of the staff were ready to reach their breaking points, it was all they could do to stay afloat in this sea of madness.

At this particular moment both Severus and Minerva were feeling quite relieved, they finally had some time to sit down and unwind during their free period. Both were very thankful that Pomona and Filius had agreed to watch Katie for them. They were both in Severus's office enjoying a cup of tea, and relaxing as much as possible. It had been awhile since they had even had the chance to do that, as parents of a seven year old they already had little time to themselves, combined with this Umbridge madness they effectively had no time at all. It's not surprising that both Severus and Minerva were counting down the days until the next holiday. Christmas would have been far more relaxing without the hospital visits for Arthur and all of the Order's activities. It was a wonder that they had survived that with Katie. Now that they had been back from holiday for a month they were more than ready for the next one.

The two had spent the bulk of their tea in pleasant conversation, discussing things like their daughter, the weather, and their students. They had even indulged in a few good natured verbal spars. All was pleasant until the subject of the toad came up, everything just went downhill from there.

"I can't believe how that woman has been treating the students, it's abominable what she can get away with." said Minerva "The students hate her, the staff hates her, I have come to the conclusion that the only one who is fond of her is herself."

"I agree that the woman is a menace. I have trouble going through my everyday routine with her sticking her fat nose in to everything that goes on around here. I suspect that she is even stealing potions ingredients from my personal store." Severus replied.

"It's all I can do to avoid hexing her every time she comes near me. Seeing the way she treats my peers and my students ,it's despicable!" Minerva said angrily "There have been times where I have wanted to do so much more than just argue with her, if the students were not present I would truly give her a piece of my mind."

"As happy as I would be to see that woman truly put in her place, I would prefer if you stayed away from her, and avoided confrontation with her as much as possible." Severus replied

"She needs to be put in her place, everyone at this school would be far better off if she was." Minerva retorted "Someone needs to stand up to her, or else her reign of terror will continue to go on."

"Minerva, stay away from that woman, arguing with her is not worth it." Severus pleaded with his wife.

"I can't just let her go on treating the staff and students the way she does, it isn't right." Minerva all but shouted at her husband. She was quite the stubborn one, and wouldn't budge on the issue.

Severus put his fingers to his temple, he knew his wife was stubborn but he couldn't let her go through with this Umbridge campaign the way she was. Even though secretly he was very proud that his wife could intimidate the toad he didn't want to see any harm come to her. Severus just couldn't get his wife to see clearly on this issue.

"Minerva I know how terrible she has been to the students and our coworkers but at the moment I think it would be best if you stayed out of these matters." Severus retorted.

"How can you say such a thing, I can't just stand by and watch that witch take over our school, she is a menace, and she needs to be stopped." Minerva stood and turned away from her husband.

"I'm not oblivious to what she has been involved in throughout her time here, but I don't want you getting involved in it Minerva." Severus pleaded with her. If anything happened to Minerva he had no idea what he would do. He suspected that Umbridge would resort to more than just cruel words if provoked. Minerva and the toad were already on bad terms; Severus was aware that Umbridge hated his wife and would take any means to get rid of her. He did not want to see Minerva sacked, or worse.

"Someone needs to put a stop to this, I won't allow my students and my fellow staff members to be treated like this." Minerva said turning around and glaring at Severus. She couldn't believe that her husband was being so belligerent about this whole thing. If anything he should have been on her side, fighting alongside her, not arguing against her.

"That someone is not going to be you." Severus replied firmly "Things will straighten out by and by."

Minerva was fuming, how could her husband be so insensitive to the plight of Hogwarts' residents? " How can you be so cruel Severus? If I don't stand up to Dolores nobody will." Minerva said her voice trembling with anger "I always thought you cared about people and that the façade you put up in front of people was just that, a façade. Obviously I was wrong about that, you're just as insensitive as the students say you are."

"So that's what you think of me, is it?" Severus all but snarled glaring at her darkly.

"I would be a fool to believe anything else, I've seen the way you stalk around the school terrorizing students scaring people out of their wits." She shouted at him knowing that this might put him over the edge.

"If I am such a terrible person why did you marry me then? Why do we have a child together?" Severus snarled at her.

"Sometimes I ask that same question myself, perhaps I'm just an ignorant fool and a poor judge of character." She said shooting him an icy glare.

"Then perhaps it never occurred to you that I do some of the things I do BECAUSE I care about the students, because I care about you." He replied icily.

"If you do indeed care about me then how come we cannot go public with our marriage? We're constantly hiding, and being secretive about everything. We can't even hug in public, much less kiss. We have to monitor everything, my goodness for years we couldn't even share living quarters, until we finally informed Albus of our marriage, and even then we had to wait until Katie was born." Minerva said " We've been married for almost twenty years, yet only a handful of people even know. It's bad enough that the only member of the staff that knows is Albus, explaining Katie's birth was one of the hardest tasks I've ever had to endure, keeping her a secret from the outside world has been even harder. My own parents don't even know."

"Minerva you know very well why we can't be public about our marriage, especially in these times. Telling your parents is completely up to you, I wouldn't stop you from doing that, even though you haven't been in contact with them in who knows how many years because of that stupid argument that you had. If you will excuse me I have business to attend to." He said sitting down at his desk and taking out a quill and some parchment.

Minerva shot him one last glare and then stormed out of his office, slamming the door loudly behind her.