Author's Note: Hello everyone I hope all is going well with all of you! This week I was able to find some extra time to write so as promised here is chapter four. Chapter five is still in the editing process and should be posted shortly. This chapter is a little shorter than the last one but the next one will be longer. I hope to have it up within the week! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read and review it means so much to me!
Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, I just borrow her characters from time to time.
Minerva sat on the sofa in her sitting room quill in hand, there was a pile of papers scattered on her coffee table along with the latest issue of Transfiguration Today. For the three days she had been here she had tried to distract herself from the events of the summer by delving further into her work. Although she had prepared for many of her lessons over the summer she had started making revisions on them. It was not that this was necessary but the work helped distract her from what was going on in the world outside the safe confines of the school.
She had tried many activities to take her mind off of things but work was the only one that seemed to help. For the most part her time back at the school had been confined to her rooms, it was not that she was not allowed to leave them it was just she could not bring herself to leave them for too long. She needed time to herself for awhile before seeing the other staff members again. This summer was still so fresh in her mind her emotions were barely under control. If anyone saw her in this state she would be absolutely mortified.
Despite all of the time she had spent here this week she was still not used to her surroundings. Her rooms were so different from what she had expected them to be; not so much in the furnishings but the color scheme. Of course there were her Gryffindor colors in the rooms but surprisingly they were the minority. Almost everything in her living quarters was a deep shade of emerald green. The curtains, the couch, the comfortable chairs around the fireplace in the sitting room, all of it was emerald green.
Admittedly the whole room fit together rather nicely, the furnishings were elegant, and the colors set each other off very well. Minerva had tried to change it, but her attempts were futile. After changing the colors of the curtains and chairs everything had reverted back to this shade of green again. It was as if the room did not agree with her judgement in decorations. For the life of her Minerva could not understand why.
Minerva had always tried to avoid the color completely; although green was not altogether an unpleasing color it had notoriously been associated with dark magic throughout the years. Even though it was not out of the ordinary for witches and wizards to wear green, it was generally a lighter shade of green, not this deep emerald color she was surrounded by. To add insult to injury green was also one of Slytherin's colors. Of all things her rooms had to be in her rival house's colors. If Horace ever found out he would never let her live it down.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of her house elf Mitzi. "Good afternoon Mistress McGonagall." Mitzi said happily " I have your lunch and a letter from Professor Dumbledore."
"Oh?" Said Minerva getting up from her spot on the sofa and walking over to the little elf. She could not imagine what the Headmaster would have to say to her.
"Professor Dumbledore told Mitzi to bring you the letter with your lunch miss. He said that you should open it soon." Mitzi said
" I will certainly do that Mitzi!" Minerva said accepting the tray and the note from the little elf.
"Thank you Mistress McGonagall, Mitzi will return to the kitchens now but if Mistress needs anything I is coming right back." Said the little elf bowing then disappearing with a crack.
When the elf had gone Minerva took her tray back to her spot and made some room for it on the table. Before touching her meal she opened the envelope and read the message from Albus. After going over its contents she sighed and replaced the letter in its envelope.
A staff meeting, of all things. She should have known this was coming. After all the new term was about to begin and there was so much yet to do. The thought of it all made her head spin, if there was a staff meeting tonight there would almost certainly be an Order Meeting within the week. New assignments would be coming both in the classroom and in the field.
It would be a relief when this war was over and there would be peace once more. Too many innocent people had been lost. In these times all one could do was to fight for the cause and pray that everything would be alright.
Lately Minerva had been doing a lot of praying, it was the only thing carrying her through everything. Mostly she prayed for an end to the war and the safety and future of the wizarding world; but sometimes she prayed for herself. Although she felt selfish for doing it she prayed that one day she would be able to find happiness and have a family of her own.
It seemed foolish that with all of the suffering in the wizarding world that she could still think of such frivolous things. She was a member of the Order and a teacher at Hogwarts. A family was a luxury she would probably never get. Her life was so consumed with work and Order business that it would not be feasible. This summer had probably been her last chance and she had allowed it to slip through her fingers.
Finally all that she had given up hit her. In turning down Dougal's proposal she had turned down any chance at a normal life. In all likelihood she would probably never have a husband or children of her own. She would be alone for the rest of her life.
Tears began to well up in Minerva's eyes as they had many times this past week, but this time she did nothing to stop them. All of the emotions she had been trying to keep in check all week had suddenly come pouring out of her. She broke down and wept until she had no more tears left in her.
