McGonnagal's Secret Lover

It had been a long day for Minerva and she was tired. So, like most people, she took a bath. And while she was taking said bath; a snow white peacock glided gracefully into her bathing room. Thoroughly confounded, She bolted upright in her relaxing bath, splashing water all over her bathing room floor tiles, and slipped her robe on. Minerva drifted over to this albino creature, and discovered a letter tied to its leg with a silken black ribbon. She gently untied it, being careful not to harm the delicate bird. She carried the letter to her sitting room and situated herself on her loveseat. As she unrolled the parchment, she noticed it smelled suspiciously of a wizarding cologne named "Accio Romance". She was breathtaken when she read the following:

"My most divine Minerva,

I cannot believe I have gathered the courage to write to you what I have felt since I first met you.

Everytime I hear your name spoken, I feel a surge of unbridled love for you that I cannot explain.

In you I see a confidence and many other desirable qualities that I have never seen in any other woman I have laid eyes upon.

But just thinking of you is not enough for me, for I wish to see your face and to show you my sincerity in person.

I beg you to meet me at the stroke of midnight on the day you most love, at the place you have laughed the most.

Sincerely,

Someone very much in love with you"

Minerva, though taken away by the beauty of this note, was very confused. The day I most love? The place I have laughed the most? What in the name of Merlin? And what if he knows about my secretive childhood too?

The next day, as Minerva was sitting in the velvety softness of her bear fur loveseat, she pondered the mysterious note. She was at war with herself over how to respond to the note. I don't know who he is. But on the other hand, he writes exsquisite poetry. But he sounds desperate. But you've nver been loved this way before. But time was not of the essence, and she only had one day to decide what to do, for tomorrow was christmas eve, the day she loved most. But where do I go? she wondered to herself. Where have I laughed the most? She thought for a few minutes before she realized what the lover meant. At Hogwarts! From when she was a child attending the school to when she was teaching, surely that was the place she loved to be. But where in Hogwarts? She wondered. She would have to think about it because she had to make the stuffing for her christmas turkey. As she was cubing the bread crumbs she sighted another peacock gallavanting through her chambers. It must be another note She thought to herself silently. Minerva abondoned her bread crumbs and plucked the note from the peacock's kneecap.

"Minerva,

Here is a hint about the cryptic note that I sent you:

To find the place you have laughed the most, find where he likes to brag and boast.

I wish you luck on your quest to decipher my newest note."

As Minerva was on her way to her sleeping room that evening she passed the painting that was her favorite when she was a child. Minerva loved this painting because it made her laugh. The only thing marring this image was Draco Malfoy. He had a confident smirk on his face, as he regailed to some slytherin buffoons about a prank he had played on Harry Potter. Suddenly she realized... The place I have laughed the most... Where he likes to brag and boast! It was then that she decided on the spot that she would go to this painting tomorrow night to meet this man of mystery, and find out who he was.

But by the next night she was less sure of her decision and how right she had deemed it. At the christmas eve feast she was barely able to focus on the merriment surrounding her. As midnight approached, Minerva was once again at war with herself. She found herself fixing her hair in the mirror, and reprimanded herself for being so silly. "You are not going." She told herself sternly.

But as the clock striked midnight, Minerva was to be found standing nervously by the painting, her hair in its usual knot atop her head. In a split-second decision, she let her hair out of its bun, and felt it fall gracefully about her shoulders.

"You came." said a voice, so suddenly that Minerva jumped. A man stepped out of the shadows, and she gasped in recognition and shock.

Minerva felt a chill run down her spine as she looked into the cold gray eyes of Lucius Malfoy. *dramatic music*

"Lucius, I knew it was you because of your majestically strutting peacocks."

"Yes," he said, his voice like silken dreams "I thought you would recognize my-" here he stopped to make air quotes-"calling card."

She still couldn't believe it. How could this be? she though to herself. How could he ever love me?

As if he was reading her mind, Lucius said "I know it doesn't seem possible, but I have loved you since I first laid eyes on you."

She looked into his eyes and saw that he was telling the truth, he obviously loved her, it was written all over his face.

"I didn't just call you here to profess my love for you, I also have some big news."

"Lucius...what is it? Please, tell me..."

"Well, the truth is, is that my wife has discovered some of the letters I wrote... And I have few hours to leave before she tells the Ministry of my...disgrace."

"So, what are you trying to say to me?" His eyes bored into hers.

"What I'm saying is that I must leave London as soon as I can, and well..."

"Yes...?" She gazed expectantly into his eyes.

"I know that you have a home here at Hogwarts, but I could give you a home.. With me."

Minerva was stunned. She didn't know how to comprehend this.

She knew that going with him shouldn't even be an option, but yet, she had never felt this thrill - this rush before.

Leave Hogwarts? I couldn't. She thought. But there was something else pestering her deep in her heart

there was another.

He had her heart from the first day she came to teach.

no one knew of her desires; her fantasies and secret longings.

Of the way she thought of him, the way she LOOKED at him.

she had always kept it a secret from the others because she knew they wouldn't understand. When she closed her eyes at night all she could see was his piercing, twinkling, sapphire opticals. the way he glanced down from his glass lenses, the way he caressed his goblet during the feast made her SWWWOOOOON.

yes, she was in love with ALBUS DUMBLEDORE. *duhduhduh*

Epilogue

She runs away with lucius because Dumbledore doesn't love her

FIN